Please don't go, Roger.
Kiwis skipper Adam Blair has called on his New Zealand teammate Roger Tuivasa-Sheck to stick with rugby league after reports surfaced on Friday of his desire to code-hop to rugby.
But Blair admitted the decision was a deeply personal one.
Fairfax Media in Australia spoke to the manager of 24-year-old Tuivasa-Sheck, the star Warriors fullback and Kiwis regular, saying they had discussed joining the 15-a-side game to stake a claim for an All Blacks Test berth.
The Samoan-born livewire played both rugby and rugby league throughout high school before linking up with the Sydney Roosters in late 2011.
He joined the Auckland-based Warriors in 2017 on a two-year deal and would not be the first NRL star to become a dual international.
Blair, who will play alongside Tuivasa-Sheck in this year's Rugby League World Cup and also at club level next year, hoped his teammate would hang around.
But the proven success of recent league converts - including Ngani Laumape, Sonny Bill Williams and Matt Duffie - made the black jumper a major drawcard.
The 31-year-old Blair said the decision was ultimately Tuivasa-Sheck's to make, and depended upon his ambitions for the future.
He would be free to cross over at the end of his current contract in 2018.
"Is he going somewhere?" Blair said with tongue-in-cheek.
"I'll get a year with him then, hey.
"Please don't go, Roger, is all I have to say."
Should Tuivasa-Sheck switch from league to rugby, he may have a fairly difficult time earning a black jumper amidst a crowded back-three field.
He would have little time to earn the trust of All Blacks coach Steve Hansen before the 2019 Rugby World Cup, while a score of prodigious backs including Rieko Ioane, Damian McKenzie and Jordie Barrett will play protagonists' roles in 2023.
Other players could also emerge in the meantime.
But Hansen didn't mind the idea of having Tuivasa-Sheck at his disposal.
"I like the rumour," Hansen told reporters.
"If he comes over to rugby he'd be a good player, I think one of the (Super Rugby) franchises... it'd be quite handy to pick him up."
Blair, 31, meanwhile, said his code-hopping window had long shut.
His focus is the RLWC with the Kiwis playing their first match against Samoa at Mount Smart Stadium on Saturday.
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