MATTHEW Johns has urged NRL boss Todd Greenberg to step in and act before another one of the game’s stars is lost to rugby.

Johns wants CEO Greenberg to fly to New Zealand and sit down with Roger Tuivasa-Sheck, amid speculation he’s already agreed to sign with Super 15 club Auckland Blues from next year.

But another retired rugby league legend — Mark Gasnier — doesn’t want the governing body to use a war chest as bait to keep players in the game.

Tuivasa-Sheck is off contract at the Warriors this year and is yet to confirm his sporting future.

Round 19

He’s being pursued by rugby — the game he played throughout school before switching to league — and also at least two rival NRL clubs.

Watch every NRL premiership game live in 2018 on Fox Sports. Sign up here to stream for free on a two week trial >

Roger Tuivasa-Sheck of the Kiwis celebrates with teammates after scoring a try. Source: Getty Images

Johns says the game must do all it can to convince RTS to stick with the Steeden.

“If’ I’m Todd Greenberg — and it’s easy to say things when you’re not in the hot seat — Todd, get over there, get involved with this,” Johns told Triple M’s Grill Team on Friday.

“Don’t leave it up to the Warriors or leave it up to management, you get over there, you talk to his management and do what you can to keep this kid in the game.

“If he comes back over (to Sydney) and gets one of these clubs and they put him in a strong system he will take off again.

SEMI GONE: Radradra turns his back on NRL

MINI: Why RTS will never be lost to rugby league

“I think in his hard heart he doesn’t know where this is going at the Warriors. That puts a sword in the side of rugby league in New Zealand if (rugby) get him.”

And while Greenberg may yet get involved in the situation, Gasnier says the governing body can’t use cash to entice Tuivasa-Sheck to stay.

In the past there’s been suggestion the NRL use a war chest to help sign marquee players in the hope of strengthening the competition.

Raiders head of recruitment Peter Mulholland joins Nathan Ryan and Ben Glover to delve into the club’s roster strategy, salary cap issues and Josh Hodgson solutions in a podcast that wraps up the NRL off-season.

You can also subscribe via iTunes or for Android users, listen on the iPP Podcast Player app.

It was a hot topic when Sam Burgess returned home from a stint in rugby a couple of years ago.

“You open up dangerous territory ... we’ve already gone down the path of third-party agreements and look where that’s got us to. Some would argue it’s made the salary cap unfair,” Gasnier told foxsports.com.au.

“If we went down that path of prioritising some players over others then what’s the criteria?

“When you start it’s never ending. You’re going to put a sour taste in peoples’ mouths because one person’s priority might be different to others.

“Do I prioritise Roger Tuivasa-Sheck? Do I prioritise Sam Burgess? Then all of a sudden does that turn into a leverage tool?”

Tuivasa-Sheck burst onto the NRL scene four years ago at the Roosters and was one of the competition’s best players before packing his bags and moving back across the ditch in 2015.

Since then the Warriors haven’t qualified for finals and their 24-year-old captain has struggled to replicate the form he had at Bondi.

Roger Tuivasa-Sheck of the Kiwis. Source: Getty Images

Johns laments RTS has been robbed of some of the best years of his career by deciding to join the Warriors — the competition’s perennial battler.

He says Tuivasa-Sheck would still be considered one of the game’s elite players had he stayed at the Roosters.

“He was on his way to being if not the best player in the NRL, then bloody close,” Johns said.

“Trent Robinson had a style of play, and would have put sequences in place which suited Roger’s strengths, which is footwork through the middle, manufacturing opportunities to get Roger one on one, and he’s unstoppable one on one.

He’s gone to a club that has an unfortunate history of making very good players regress ... it’s just get the ball in Roger’s hands and hope for a bit of magic.

“I look at Trent Robinson and everything was a plan, it was a system, and (RTS) had a niche role in that system.”