THE YEAR THAT WAS | James Tedesco
James Tedesco – are there enough superlatives to describe his season?
He scored the winning try in the NRL Grand Final. He scored the winning try in the final minute of the State of Origin decider. He basically won every individual award and team trophy that was on offer.
2019 belonged to James Tedesco.
Season Highlight
Grand Final v Raiders – W 14-8
James Tedesco only went eight games without scoring a try for the Roosters this year which is remarkable for any fullback.
It’s impossible to pick out just one game for a season highlight given he was dominant in so many but given the way the Grand Final ended it was hard to go past the big dance.
The score was 8-all with eight minutes to go, and as NSW fans know, Teddy is never too far away from the ball in match-defining situations.
Luke Keary picked the short side play as he does so well so often and got the ball to Latrell Mitchell, who skilfully flicked it to Daniel Tupou, who found space.
Tupou drew the fullback and passed inside to guess who? Teddy of course, who ran away to score the Roosters’ premiership-winning try.
Representative Highlight
State of Origin Game III – 26-20 W
Tedesco had a sublime State of Origin series in 2019. He, along with Damien Cook, was among our standouts in Game I where the Blues went down in a close one.
In Perth for Game II Teddy was amazing, setting up Tom Trbojevic for two of his three tries including a flick pass straight out of Benji Marshall’s handbook in the pouring rain.
Tedesco’s Game III performance, however, will be remembered and replayed as long as Rugby League is being played.
The score was 8-all, just like in the Grand Final, when Tedesco took it upon himself to break the deadlock and score a try in the left corner to start a run of points for the Blues. Cook scored his incredible try just minutes after.
Queensland fought back and the scores were once again locked at 20-all with a minute to go.
Six weeks of gruelling Origin camp were going to be defined forever in this 60 second period.
From deep inside the Blues’ own half, Cameron Murray found Mitchell Pearce on the chest, who fired a perfect pass to Tom Trbojevic out wide. ‘Turbo’ passed to Blake Ferguson, who tip-toed the sideline and showed incredible balance to remain in the field of play.
Tedesco, as usual, was looming in support. Ferguson threw the ball in-field to his fullback, who had to actually stop himself from over-running, caught the ball, and accelerated to the right corner.
The moment he planted that ball down, an entire state rose as one.
NSW had gone back-to-back, largely thanks to James Tedesco.
Off-field highlight
Tedesco’s off field highlight was a direct result of his on-field success.
His suit wardrobe would have to be as big as his trophy cabinet given how many awards nights he attended and ultimately won.
The biggest highlight of these nights was most definitely taking his mum to the Dally M awards as his date. That significantly beats any trophy.
But on the subject of trophies, here is what he won:
- Dally M Medal
- Dally M Fullback of the Year
- RLPA Players Champion
- Brad Fittler Medal
- Daily Telegraph People’s Choice Award
- Wally Lewis Medal
- Peter Frilingos Headline Moment of the Year
- Jack Gibson Medal
- 2019 NRL Premiership
- 2019 State of Origin