Tedesco pinpoints major issue Roosters must fix in premiership push

The Sydney Roosters boast one of the best rosters ever assembled, but that counts for little if they miss the jump and have to waste their energy playing catch up footy.

Joseph Suaalii’s move to left centre could give the Roosters the fast start they want in 2023.

The NRL season is a marathon, not a sprint, but the Sydney Roosters don’t want to be left at the starter’s block again in 2023 after spending most of last year in catch up mode.

Part of Penrith’s success in recent years has been its ability to rest players in the final few rounds to freshen them up for a brutal month-long block of finals.

It’s something the Roosters would love to do this year after they were forced to win their final eight regular season games in 2022 just to sneak into the finals, where they eventually bundled out by Souths in the most spiteful contest in years.

James Tedesco helped the Roosters go on an epic run to end the regular season. Picture: Cameron Spencer / Getty Images

There aren’t many teams who can flick the switch quite like the Roosters, but no side can sustain a run for that long and be expected to have anything left in the tank when the big games roll around.

It’s why the club is so desperate to get off to a flying start this year – something they’ve struggled to do with just one win from their past five season openers since James Tedesco and Cooper Cronk joined the club in 2018.

“It’s probably been a trait of ours, that we start the year pretty slowly,” Tedesco said.

“That sometimes happens when we’ve got new players in our spine. In 2018, me and Cooper were new, so it took time for us to connect as a team and play our best footy (before we won the comp)”.

Brandon Smith may need a few weeks to gel with his new Roosters teammates. Picture: Matt King / Getty Images

It might take them a little bit of time to gel with Brandon Smith joining the club in the off-season, but there’s a chance for them to get off to a fast start with games against the Dolphins, Warriors and Rabbitohs before things heat up after their first bye.

Trent Robinson rolled out most of his big guns in the pre-season challenge to get rid of any rust and allow his troops enough time to sort out any chinks in the team’s armour.

“We’ve earmarked that we want to start the year strong. We’ve got a bye in Round 4 so we want to get off to a good start – that’s why most of us played in the trial if we could,” said Tedesco, who played in the ugly loss to Manly.

“We weren’t happy with that trial, but sometimes that stuff was happening in Round 1 and we were scrambling for those first few rounds, trying to figure out what went wrong.

“We played the trial; we weren’t happy with it, but we look at it as a positive in that we’ve got a couple of weeks to learn from that and make sure it doesn’t happen in Round 1.”

The Roosters were belted by the Knights in Round 1 last year. Picture: Matt King / Getty Images

Winning the first few games would give them some slack later in the year if injuries build up or if Origin takes its toll, which is exactly what happened when they lost four matches in a row in June and July last season.

They dropped to 10th after 16 rounds but didn’t lose again until the finals, with Tedesco and Joseph Manu carrying the team to the top eight.

“We needed a couple of wins at the start of the year to get us in the top four, which meant we were scrambling for the top eight with four or five or six rounds to go,” the fullback said.

“At the end of last year, usually I’d take a week off because we’d be in a comfortable place, but I had to play every game because we were fighting for a spot (in the finals).

“That just shows the importance of getting those wins early. We know we’ll probably hit our peak towards the middle or end of the year, but we don’t want to miss the start and give away two points.”

The Roosters ironed out some of their issues in the trials. Picture: Matt King / Getty Images

The Roosters were a scary proposition at the back end of 2022, but they are downright frightening now with Smith in the spine and Joseph Suaalii ready to be unleashed at left centre.

How their attack looks with Tedesco, Manu and Suaalii roaming around is still unclear, but as the skipper said “it’s pretty handy to have one Joey on one side and another on the other side”.

Manu hasn’t had to school Suaalii on the positional switch, given how naturally talented he is, and fans are already licking their lips at the prospect of those two linking up in the middle of the field against exhausted defenders.

“He’s good on his own; he’s an awesome player,” Manu said.

“Obviously I try to help him out when I can because it is a bit different to the wing spot, especially in defence, but he’s got the ability in attack and we all know what he brings. I’m looking forward to seeing him get one on one with centres.”

Originally published as Tedesco pinpoints major issue Roosters must fix in premiership push