Despite being unavailable through injury for Sunday's final game of the NRL season, Roger Tuivasa-Sheck has turned down an early flight home.
The captain was offered the chance to return to Auckland this week by the club, which found him a seat.
Tuivasa-Sheck is the only Warriors player not to have seen family in the past four months while the team has been based in Australia.
“We found out that we could put him on a plane and we floated the subject with him, but he was adamant that he wanted to stay,” said interim coach Todd Payten.
“That typifies the type of leader he is. I said he should think about it for 24 hours, but he was adamant the next day that he wanted to stay.”
Payten says had his teammates been aware of the opportunity to return home, they would have pressured their skipper into taking it.
Against all the odds, the Warriors were close to making the NRL finals and have exceeded expectations, which Payten says Tuivasa-Sheck is a big part of.
“Roger has been tremendous. He didn’t have a great game on the weekend, but for all his sacrifices and the personal strain it put on him, he led this club magnificently.”
The Warriors take on the Manly Sea Eagles on Sunday in their season finale.
The match also marks the end of Payten's tenure as interim coach as he takes on the Cowboys' top job next season.
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