James Tedesco scores hat-trick in star turn as Wests Tigers demolish Manly Sea Eagles

JAMES Tedesco continued his hot start to the season, bagging a hat-trick as the Wests Tigers demolished a disappointing Manly. Re-live the action!

Kevin Naiqama of the Tigers is congratulated by James Tedesco after scoring a try during the round 2 NRL match between the Wests Tigers and the Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles at Leichhardt Oval in Sydney, Monday, March 14, 2016. (AAP Image/Dan Himbrechts) NO ARCHIVING, EDITORIAL USE ONLY

JAMES Tedesco continued his hot start to the season, bagging a hat-trick as the Wests Tigers demolished a disappointing Manly 36-22.

Tedesco was electric all night, threatening every time he touched the ball and scoring at key moments as the Tigers thrilled their Leichhardt Oval crowd.

It gives Jason Taylor’s unfancied side a fantastic platform into 2016, with two wins from two, while Manly’s horror start to the season continued.

THE STAR

James Tedesco

Matthew Johns said in the post-match that this star fullback was heading for an Origin jersey this year. And on the evidence of his first two rounds, that’s hard to argue with. The stats tell the story: three tries, three linebreaks, a linebreak assist, 10 tackle busts and 146 metres from 15 runs.

THE DUNCE

Daly Cherry-Evans

The star halfback had another anonymous performance and while that continues the Sea Eagles are in big trouble. No real moments of magic and showed a stunning lack of awareness to throw an inside ball to a prop on sixth tackle when the Sea Eagles were in attack in the closing stages, with one last chance to score a try that could have saved them.

THE MOMENT

Marty Taupau got better as the game went on but on his first carry of the game he was put on his back by winger David Nofoaluma. It was a sort of declaration that the Tigers weren’t going to be bullied by their hulking ex-teammate and from then on they always looked the better team.

WHAT WE LEARNED

This could be the year the Tigers transition from a team with young individual stars to a star team. Tedesco was the standout but Luke Brooks and Mitchell Moses were also outstanding and it all happened on the back of a dominant performance from their forwards. A true team win.

Re-live the action in our blog below!

Originally published as James Tedesco scores hat-trick in star turn as Wests Tigers demolish Manly Sea Eagles