James Tedesco leads the NRL — and his Wests Tigers teammates — for tackle busts

LEADING the NRL for tackle busts and almost matching the entire Wests Tigers backline, how bad could the Leichhardt club’s season have been if not for James Tedesco?

Tigers v Rabbitohs

JAMES Tedesco’s simple goal this season was to try and play every game for the Wests Tigers. And Tigers fans must be eternally grateful their star No. 1 is yet to miss any action.

You have to wonder if Tedesco had been sidelined, how worse could it have been for the Tigers?

Tedesco leads the NRL for tackle busts, with his 109 efforts almost nearly as many as what the entire Tigers’ backline has produced collectively.

The free-running No. 1 will be sure to cause Broncos’ coach Wayne Bennett a few anxious moments in the box at Suncorp Stadium.

“I think it’s (to do with) playing with confidence and knowing I can do that, having those stats where I can beat the first player. It’s definitely on my mind when I’m getting the ball,’’ Tedesco said of the competition-leading tackle-busts statistic.

“Sometimes I’ve got to try and run straight through them instead of trying to beat the defender. I’ve had a lot of time with the injuries to work on my upper body and that strength, and I think it’s paying off now.’’

U20S TALENT: Which club has best development?

LATE MAIL: Farah an outside chance

Tedesco’s passing game is one area that has also looked much slicker, and he admitted he had addressed that in the off-season.

“I was always more of a runner, but I’m trying to develop that passing game,’’ Tedesco said. “Billy Slater, when he came in, he was more of a runner, but then he developed that passing game over the years. (Brett) Stewart is one of the best at it. Matty Moylan is awesome at it, too.

“I’m just trying to add to every little part of my game, running, passing, or trying to set up the other boys.’’

Tedesco has had a pretty good view from the back of what exactly goes wrong during various stages of games for the Tigers. Too often they have failed to remained focused an entire 80 minutes.

Most of the time when they come to life, Tedesco has had something to do with it. The Tigers, however, have been known to save their best efforts for teams who are serious title contenders, which is hopefully the case ­tomorrow up north.

“Against top teams we seem to step up a lot more,’’ Tedesco said.

“We’ll play (well) against Souths, then we’ll play a team lower on the ladder like Penrith and we won’t play as well. We’re still positive in what we’re doing, it’s about doing it for 80 minutes. Against Parramatta, the first half was good, then we slackened off.

“ If we can play consistently for 80 minutes, hopefully give us a chance to get win. I’m not going up there to Brisbane expecting to lose.’’

Tedesco’s colleague, prop Aaron Woods, insists he has nothing to prove to Brisbane’s Queensland State of ­Origin contingent in the clash against the Broncos

Woods, one of NSW’s best players in the Origin series, returns to the ground where the Blues were destroyed by the Maroons in the decider.

“I’ve just got a job to do. JT (coach Jason Taylor) has spoken to us during the week about what he wants from us and if I do that role, we could have success,” Woods said.

Originally published as James Tedesco leads the NRL — and his Wests Tigers teammates — for tackle busts