By Dan Walsh
“We’re the Sydney Roosters, everyone is going to talk about us either way.”
So James Tedesco presents a good defence of the NRL glamour club, short roughly $6 million and almost 1200 games of star power and experience to start 2025.
“I don’t see a rebuild at all. People talk about the players we lost from last year, but not the players that are still there,” Tedesco says.
The roll call of Roosters from last season makes for the most notable turnover of genuine elite players at one club in recent memory - Luke Keary, Jared Waerea-Hargreaves, Joey Manu, Joseph-Aukuso Suaalii, Sitili Tupouniua and Terrell May have all left, taking more than $4 million in talent with them.
Add another $1.65 million in injured marquee playmakers Sam Walker and Brandon Smith, who will be sidelined until mid-season by respective knee reconstructions.
“But we’ve still got an international forward pack - Gus [Angus Crichton], Rads [Victor Radley], Lindsay [Collins], Spencer [Leniu], Connor Watson who’s an Origin player. That’s still pretty good if you ask me,” Tedesco says.
“We’ve still got a lot of experience and a lot of superstars in our team. We have lost a couple of players and I know people are writing us off but that’s all right. It’s nice to be on the other end of that for once.
“We’re the Roosters, everyone expects us to be successful.
“We’re used to that, and yeah, we don’t have as many superstars as we once did and sometimes you could rely on them to win you a game. So we replace that with hard work and a 17-man team to win you games.”
For all the focus on the Roosters prize-winning attack, Tedesco emphasises a return to the defensive resolve of their last premierships.
Roosters captain James Tedesco.Credit: Steven Siewert
“When our 2018 and ’19 attack wasn’t the best in the comp, it was our defence that won those titles, and last year our work without the ball wasn’t up to scratch,” he says.
“We want to get the hardness back in our defence. And you have to be in the top two defensive teams to win the comp and beat the best teams, that’s just the reality of the NRL.”
Tedesco hailed the leadership and communication of veteran half Chad Townsend, the Roosters’ sole recruit for 2025 given his ex-Cowboys teammate Reece Robson arrives next season to replace Smith at hooker.
The club has salary cap room to move in coming years and coach Trent Robinson’s mandate has always been to shop from the top shelf, signing the likes of Cooper Cronk, Sonny Bill Williams, Smith and Robson throughout his Roosters tenure.
Jared Waerea-Hargreaves has left a massive void up front for the Roosters.Credit: NRL Photos
Whether the likes of Smith and 2024 target David Fifita truly fit the club’s culture has been questioned at times, though the club’s investment in its Roosters Academy is beginning to bear fruit.
Established in 2021 after a World Club Challenge trip that included a visit to Barcelona FC’s famed La Masia development academy, Roosters legends Mitch Aubusson, Jake Friend and Boyd Cordner have all been heavily involved in coaching the club’s next generation.
Forwards Siua Wong, Blake Steep and De La Salle Va’a have all graduated from the Academy ranks to NRL in the past two seasons.
Highly-rated young centre Rob Toia, edge forward Salesi Foketi, prop Xavier and playmakers Jake Elliott and Tyler Moriarty lead the next crop expected to play first grade.
“We’re already seeing those guys come through and everyone else is going to see more of them too,” Tedesco says.
“I think the best thing is, Friendy, Aubo and Boyd are holding these 16, 17 and 18-year-olds to first grade standards.
“So when they come up to our training, you look at them and there’s not much difference between them and the NRL guys, because they’re so well drilled by the Academy. It feels like it’s setting the club up for the future and is going to keep producing high-quality players for us.”