Star recruit James Tedesco starts training at Sydney Roosters
STAR recruit James Tedesco has begun life at the Sydney Roosters, but the NRL club did their best to keep their new $4 million man’s arrival under wraps.
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THERE are still 89 days until their NRL season kicks off, but already the Sydney Roosters are in lockdown.
The Bondi club did its best to make zero fuss about its $4 million man James Tedesco at his first training session on Monday morning.
Official requests to take some photos of the superstar fullback’s first day on the job were politely knocked back.
But The Daily Telegraph spotted Tedesco shortly after 10.30am decked out in Roosters training gear, and the images will no doubt break the hearts of thousands of fans at his former club the Wests Tigers.
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Tedesco looked in good spirits as he walked from Roosters HQ and shared a laugh with Blake Ferguson, his NSW teammate and winger.
The pair, followed by former Parramatta and Waratahs flyer Reece Robinson in the background, joined the likes of Luke Keary and Jake Friend, who had commenced training half an hour earlier on a sunny Sydney morning.
There is plenty of pressure on the Roosters and coach Trent Robinson to win next year’s premiership after they secured Tedesco and won the race for the game’s best halfback, Cooper Cronk.
Bookies reacted again over the weekend by tightening the Roosters’ premiership price from $6 to $5, making them the shortest-priced pre-season favourites since Manly a decade ago.
Provided Cronk and Tedesco remain fit, anything less than a top-two finish would be unacceptable for the Roosters, who bowed out with a whimper last season.
While Tedesco was kept under wraps — even the club’s website did not post any training photos of him — seven days earlier Newcastle were more than happy to unveil their new marquee man, former Roosters No.7 Mitchell Pearce.
Anthony Minichiello, one of the Roosters’ greatest fullbacks who played more than 300 games for the club, said it was great to see Tedesco officially start, and the external pressure on the club was similar to 2013 when Sonny Bill Williams and Michael Jennings arrived.
The Roosters, led by Minichiello, delivered on the hype to win the title that year.
“You can’t expect to win the premiership because you’ve signed a couple of superstar players,’’ Minichiello said.
“Even though we’ve got a really good squad, you need to develop a winning culture, and that comes down to how you set your standards through the year.
“Robbo is comfortable with the pressure, he doesn’t worry about it, it’s all external.
“He knows what goes on within the four walls at the Roosters and what’s needed to build a good culture.
“In 2013 we signed Sonny Bill and Michael Jennings. Everyone expected us to do well, but we had to build our culture from scratch, and that’s what the boys have to do again, and they’ve already started.’’
Tedesco, 24, told The Daily Telegraph late last month he was keen to combine with Cronk and enjoy the kind of success Cronk had with fullback Billy Slater at Melbourne.
And the Roosters colours brought back memories of his childhood when playing for Camden in the red, white and blue.
The Roosters will open their season against the Tigers.