Sydney Roosters fullback James Tedesco has won it all in 2019 and there is much to suggest that heading into Sunday’s NRL grand final he’ll be adding a couple more gongs to his already heaving mantle. To go with the NSW Blues inscription on the State of Origin shield, Tedesco has collected awards named after Wally Lewis, Brad Fittler and Dally Messenger. He is favourite to wear the medal honouring Clive Churchill for best player afield in a grand final, and to slip on another chunky premier’s ring.
And as the Roosters seek to be the first club to win back-to-back premierships since Brisbane Broncos last century, their brilliant No 1 is in rare and dare one suggest it, Churchill-esque form. A medal with the Immortal’s name would cap the greatest one-man winning season ever.
Yet the Raiders may have an answer: target Tedesco. They won’t “bash” him – you can’t “bash” people on the rugby league field today; you could be arrested – but you can work a player over: bruise the ribs, jolt the hips. The best players cannot be stopped, but you can try to wear them out though repeated high-physicality.
The Raiders’ work on Tedesco on Sunday night will be super-physical. They won’t employ illegality like that which Terry Lamb dished out upon Ellery Hanley in 1988 or Mal Meninga and his mighty forearm guard that so rattled Lamb in 1994. Television sees all and time in the sin bin is to be avoided at all costs. Yet Canberra can try to “ruffle” Tedesco, bruise him and tire him out.
The problem is, Tedesco’s activities can be lethal. The Raiders tried the same with success upon Melbourne Storm fullback Ryan Papenhuyzen in the qualifying final at AAMI Park. Canberra bunted bombs at the lightweight flier and sent hordes of Vikings through to rough him up the best they could. They scrapped and niggled, poked and prodded, dragged him in goal. Statistics tell us that Papenhuyzen ran for a game-high 184 metres yet a couple of long-range efforts made up that number. His team’s scoring was limited to three goals by Cameron Smith and a try in the 42nd minute to Suliasi Vunivalu.
The Raiders defence that evening won the match, as it won the preliminary final against South Sydney when they defended their line with a man in the sin bin, and Souths came at them six times after drop-outs. Canberra’s intensity in the tackle has been staunch across September. It’s been close, tight, physical. Theirs is a pack that’s skilled in the meat locker. Josh Hodgson’s stripping skills add to the angst but they’re just one part of the arsenal.
Yet such strong defence is what the Roosters call “footy”. Their coach Trent Robinson, perhaps channelling the spiritual mojo of Cooper Cronk, describes a defensive line as a “living organism”, placing in mind a 26-armed blob of ectoplasm enveloping invading bacteria. (The Raiders’ D, meanwhile, is more like a squad of English bouncers taking care of a large, obstreperous and dangerous drunk.)
Both teams will rely on x-factor players to bust out. The Roosters have several: Latrell Mitchell and Joey Manu are capable of dam-busting manoeuvres; Luke Keary and Cronk will require similar vigilance as Tedesco. Yet Tedesco is enemy No 1. He is key.
He hasn’t won everything, however. Game one of State of Origin was lost by NSW 18-14, with Tedesco’s effectiveness limited to a game-high 254 run metres, five tackle breaks, 47 post-contact metres, and a try-assist for Josh Morris’s opener.
Yet digging into the finer detail – by swiping right on the NRL’s player stats page – one finds that Tedesco had the slowest average play-the-ball speed (4.21 seconds) of anyone from either team outside Cody Walker (4.6 seconds) who played the ball but once. Tedesco played the ball 21 times which illustrates that the Maroons gave him plenty to do. He made three handling errors and gave away a penalty.
Yet if Ricky Stuart is looking for solace in the video room, Origin game two in Perth will not offer it. In driving rain Tedesco ran like the proverbial hairy goat, and his combination with Damien Cook and Tom Trbojevic was lethal.
On Sunday Tedesco will run behind an excellent hooker in Sam Verrils or Jake Friend. Or perhaps both. The Raiders must win “the ground”, that being slowing the play-the-ball of barnstorming big units Sio Taukeiaho, Boyd Cordner and mighty, forward-leaning Jared Waerea-Hargreaves. The Chooks have similar players on the bench and strike weapons across the park.
Tedesco will snipe around and feed off team-mates’ endeavours before shooting through a hole, pistons pumping, hips swerving, eyes scanning space at speed like the Terminator summing up a bikie in a bar and asking for his clothes, his boots and his motorcycle. Good judges of Dally M points have declared Tedesco the best player in the game for 2019. The Raiders have one chance to negate him. And one way to do it.
