NRL 2021: James Tedesco opens up on changing role, embarrassing scorelines, Jai Arrow, death threats

It was the absence the Roosters failed to deal with last year and James Tedesco believes Victor Radley’s return this weekend will provide an added spark to their premiership-chasing cause.

SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA - MARCH 21: James Tedesco of the Roosters breaks away to score a try during the round two NRL match between the Wests Tigers and the Sydney Roosters at Campbelltown Sports Stadium, on March 21, 2021, in Sydney, Australia. (Photo by Mark Kolbe/Getty Images)

James Tedesco is revolutionising the way fullbacks play.

Already this year he is touching the ball 12.9 per cent more than last year and up an incredible 54 per cent more than his final season at the Tigers. Through two matches he is averaging 38.5 possessions a match, compared with the 25 touches a match in 2017.

The Roosters superstar and Foxtel ambassador goes one-on-one with Michael Carayannis ahead of Friday’s blockbuster against South Sydney to discuss his changing role, the embarrassment of last year’s thumping to the Rabbitohs, death threats, Jai Arrow and the Dally M voting drama.

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It’s been quite the start to the season for James Tedesco.

Michael Carayannis: How good was the Campbelltown homecoming for you?

James Tedesco: I haven’t been back to play there since I left. It was alright. The crowd weren’t too bad on me. It was good to see all the boys again and see a lot of guys from Tigers I played with.

MC: Coach Trent Robinson mentioned after the game that you’re changing the way he believes fullbacks should play, what’s it like when you hear that?

JT: I don’t think about it like that. I’m trying to get my hands on the ball as much as possible. Robbo (Robinson) has allowed me to play that footy and not be anchored down in structure. It’s pretty refreshing. Me and Luke Keary are similar players where we play eyes up footy and play what we see. It allows us to be free. It’s a work in progress with Keary and Lammy (Lachlan Lam). We are finding our roles and gelling. It’s going to get better with Rads (Victor Radley) and Sam Verrills to come in. I’m trying to get my hands on the ball. Robbo said that when Keary and I have our hands on the ball, things happen.

MC: How was your role evolved?

JT: Last year it evolved where we missed Radley and I was trying to play a lot of first receiver to link up with my forwards and halves. This year we’ve worked on it in the off-season where I don’t want to try and overplay my hand. Last year Keary and I were trying to overplay a lot because we were missing Rads and our right side wasn’t clicking. This year is a lot more of a balance. We’re trying to mix it up and be less predictable.

MC: You’re slotting into that second receiver role at times, too — what work have you done in the off-season to fine-tune that?

JT: It’s just training and connection, practising different things. It’s not too structured. Repetition and different plays, different options. Just practising as many times in the off-season.

MC: Take us back to the final round of the season last year. You’ve played plenty of big matches but was that the lowest you’ve ever felt post game with South Sydney winning 60-8.

Tedesco still can’t believe the Roosters conceded 60 points against the Rabbitohs last year.

JT: It was weird. We haven’t been beaten like that for a while. We started well, came out of the COVID break and the back of the end year we were just holding on. We were low on energy. I don’t know if it was because of the year before. We scraped through to the finals, trying to manufacture good footy. It showed in the finals getting beaten twice. I haven’t thought about that Souths game. We thought we would brush it off and get back to our winning ways. That’s the year we had. That was a low point for us.

MC: Was that night a reflection of the season?

JT: I don’t know what to put it down to. We had guys in and out, injuries and were trying to manufacture the good footy that we were playing for two years before that. We had two grand finals, two World Club Challenges. We were fatigued and run down. We weren’t playing our best footy. Having that break at the end of last year, not playing a grand final or a World Club Challenge allowed us to focus on a big pre-season.

MC: Has Trent Robinson made you guys watch that game again?

JT: Never. No need to. There is a different team this year.

MC: Talk us through the approach when you play the Rabbitohs. Is there a difference about your coach or preparation?

JT: It’s different this week with a five-day turnaround. We had recovery on Monday and a day off on Tuesday. We will have only one session before the captain’s run. There’s no need to change the intensity for us. The first few games we’ve won well but we are playing a quality side like Souths who will give us a faster and different game than our first two matches. There is no need to tighten up and think about Souths. We’re still working on ourselves. It’s only the start of the year. The main focus will be on us and what we can improve on. There is always going to be a higher intensity when playing Souths with the external noise and the area.

Queensland's Jai Arrow attacks a concussed James Tedesco. Picture supplied

MC: Obviously there’s been a bit made between the Origin incident between you and Jai Arrow. He says he has reached out but you haven’t replied. Any issue there?

JT: No. No issue at all.

MC: As part of a broader issue, Arrow said he received death threats after that incident. We saw Josh Morris in the news this week, too, after some ridiculous stuff posted to his Instagram – how prevalent is this sort of stuff?

JT: It’s pretty bad everyone cops it. The Josh Morris one was ridiculous. It was way too far. Josh Addo-Carr posted something that ‘we don’t care about your multis’. People are putting on multis for the boys to score tries. People get fired up when there is money involved but it’s not right. You can’t take this stuff seriously. They rely on outside backs to score to win money. It’s our jobs. We don’t care about people’s multis. We’re out there playing our best footy. If that doesn’t help your multi, you can’t get send death and bashing threats.

MC: Latrell Mitchell is in red hot form. How do you contain him?

JT: I haven’t watched much of Souths. I’ve heard he is playing good footy, which is no surprise. He was playing good footy before he got injured last year. When he was with us, he was a really strong ball runner with silky skills. He is a double threat. You can’t pressure him too much because their backs have the skill to go around you, but you have to aim up and defend well. It’s about us as a defensive unit being strong on his carries and trying to shut down his time.

James Tedesco was Dally M Player of the Year in 2019.

MC: Another issue which has been bubbling away is the Dally M votes. You received one point in round one where most people thought you were man of the match while Luke Keary didn’t receive any on Sunday. Do you guys speak about it?

JT: As players we don’t, we haven’t spoken about it. It gets brought up from your mates and external fans. It’s a hard one because we don’t go out to get Dally M points but you want to be rewarded when you play a good game. I don’t know what the solution is, there’s always been some issues. In the past couple of years. Keary got our players player on Sunday.

MC: Do you think there needs to be a revamp?

JT: There’s no complaints from players because we don’t talk about it. If there are complaints externally, maybe something needs to be done.

James Tedesco is a Foxtel ambassador

Rabbitohs v Roosters, 8pm, live and ad-break free on Foxtel