The leadership role isn't something which comes naturally to Roger Tuivasa-Sheck, and the Warriors skipper admits the responsibilities of captaincy have at times had a detrimental impact on his own form.
The fleet-footed fullback told media on Wednesday that while he'd been learning plenty about the unique demands of guiding a team, it's still a constant work in progress, particularly when it comes to being the ruthless taskmaster the role often requires.
"That's a process I'm still working on," Tuivasa-Sheck confessed.
"I know I can go to a lot of the older boys and tap them on the shoulder and ask "can you speak to this one?", "can you speak to that one?""
"With my back five I'm comfortable doing it but going to the forwards, that's what I'm working on."
By all accounts, the team meeting following the nightmare outing against the Newcastle Knights last weekend provided an opportunity for some direct and open dialogue between both players and staff with the realisation that their playoff hopes were, once again, definitively dead and buried.
The 24-year-old spoke of the "honest" session during which all parties were encouraged to hold each other accountable for some lacklustre showings during another low point in a 2017 season filled with disappointment.
"That was my main message to the team, make sure you're getting yourself ready to perform before looking at others."
It's an edict the Otahuhu-product is firmly holding himself to – leading by example.
"Before you get your team right, get yourself right," he says of the biggest lesson captaincy has taught him.
"If I don't then I'm dropping balls on the field and not doing what I'm supposed to be doing because I'm worried about something else."
An ACL tear prematurely ended his debut season with the Warriors in 2016, and while 2017 has seen him a much more constant presence, he's yet to recapture the magic which saw him named the NRL's best fullback his season prior to arriving in Auckland.
"I think my errors in the last few games have come from trying too hard. So that’s been my focus this week, just making sure I get the small things right," he says of his recent struggles.
"I think at times I overdo it too much. That's the kind of player I am, I like to get involved, but the past couple of weeks I've been doing it too much and trying to win the game in every little second."
It's certainly been a far cry from the golden years he spent with the Sydney City Roosters, where he first played his way to prominence among a premiership-winning side replete with consummate professionals, like good friend Anthony Minichiello.
Tuivasa-Sheck still maintains contact with the veteran former New South Wales and Australia fullback as he seeks to replicate the same sense of promise he felt within that 2013 championship squad, back in Auckland.
"There was a feeling in camp in 2013 that I could feel there was something good going on, and that's what I'm trying to find here.
"I'm still speaking to players like [Minichiello] about how I can create that feeling here and, each time the answer is just make sure you get yourself right and hopefully players will follow suit."
In spite of its added pressures, the 12-Test Kiwis international is determined to press forward with the captaincy on his shoulders and insists his headspace is where it needs to be.
"I've got good support, my leadership group are always there and coach is always calling me. We're having good chats and I'm getting stuff off my chest.
"There are so many captains I look up to. The way they became great captains is they went through lessons and they learnt – that’s how I'm taking it.
"If it's right for the team to carry on, then I'll do so."
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