NRL 2021: Star Roosters Tedesco and Walker combine to end Dragons’ finals hopes

Inspired by two of their biggest stars, the Sydney Roosters polished off the Dragons on Sunday and returned to the top four.

James Tedesco put on a show for the Toowoomba locals, chalking up four try assists, three line breaks and three line break assists. (Photo by Jono Searle/Getty Images)

Scintillating James Tedesco and teenage super-sub Sam Walker took it upon themselves to get the Roosters back into the top four and set up a mouth-watering showdown with arch enemies the Rabbitohs next week.

Tedesco ran riot in Toowoomba behind a pack that was brilliantly led by Jared Waerea-Hargreaves to set up three tries in the first half, and get his error riddled side home 40-22 over a Dragons outfit that now must kiss goodbye to the finals.

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Walker came off the bench in the second half to set up Daniel Tupou and score the match sealing try after the Dragons had launched a stunning comeback.

Walker (R) is at short odds to win Rookie Of The Year at this year’s Dally M Awards. (Photo by Jono Searle/Getty Images)

The Roosters threatened to run away with the game with Tedesco setting up tries for Egan Butcher, Dale Copley and Sitili Tupouniua and running for 191m before half-time but the Dragons, who scrambled well early, showed plenty of fight.

Josh McGuire scored on the cusp of half-time and then either side of the break Zac Lomax set up Mikaele Ravalawa and Mathew Feagai to give the Dragons a stunning 16-14 lead.

Compounding the Roosters’ woes, they lost Adam Keighran to concussion in the 11th minute and Nat Butcher in the 43rd to a leg injury.

Trent Robinson kept teenager Walker warm on the bench after starting with Lachlan Lam and his impact was immediate, setting up a try and then weaving his way through to score in front of the extended Walker family who hail from Toowoomba. When Tupou completed his hat-trick it was the Roosters who had sealed the comeback that counted.

Robinson said the calmness of his men when the fell behind was the key to the win.

“We’ve shown for four to six weeks that no matter the situation they have been quite good and going ‘Ok, what do we need to be better?’ The leaders spread that energy around and then the others are calm,” Robinson said.

“ I was impressed with the senior guys and the younger guys.”

“I’ve got (three) good young experienced halves and I felt like today was the day for a shift to get Lachy in there. I’ll keep making a choice around that. All three of them will be playing a lot of footy.”

Dale Copley has scored two tries from two appearances since joining the Roosters mid-season. (Photo by Jono Searle/Getty Images)

Teddy again

Tedesco kept the Roosters in it with pure genius during the first half, when his side made nine errors. He now has 22 try assists for the year, bettering his previous career best of the 2018 season. He ran for 250m and made 10 tackle busts in a performance that makes the debate over the best player in the game very much alive, despite Tom Trbojevic’s feats of brilliance.

“It is a habit. It is marvellous, but it is a habit,” Robinson said of Tedesco’s continued dominance.

In the fight

Robinson was forced to make more positional changes and the Roosters finished the game with a one-man bench. It was just another hurdle to clear

Robinson said recently that so long as his team was “in the fight”, another premiership was achievable.

They are in the fight all right despite a season from hell with injury. The Roosters are back on their own in fourth on 32 points but with the Sea Eagles just two points adrift and with a better for and against, any slip up will be fatal.

Their fate may well come down to whether Tedesco or Latrell Mitchell have the most influence on Friday night at Suncorp Stadium.

“I feel like they are heavyweight fighters in our competition and we feel like we started off as lightweights...but if we keep putting on weight each week we might get up to their division soon,” Robinson said of the looming showdown with Souths.

“Let’s see where we get on Friday night.”

The Dragons scored two tries in quick succession early in the second half but couldn’t keep pace with the Roosters for the full 80 minutes. (Photo by Jono Searle/Getty Images)

Jousting Jared

Waerea-Hargreaves, who had been soldiering on with a broken finger and injuries to his back and knee, returned from a week’s layoff to give the Roosters punch.

The veteran prop wears his leader of the pack mantle like a badge of honour and it was in the middle that the Roosters, courtesy of Waerea-Hargreaves and Siosiua Taukeiaho, were hungrier than their Dragons counterparts.

By half-time, Waerea-Hargreaves had run for 112m, more than the three Dragons starting middles Kaide Ellis, Jack de Belin and Tariq Sims combined.

Waerea-Hargreaves was twisted in half in a tackle but Robinson said he was OK.

“Since he’s lived at Mosman he has done a lot of pilates and yoga so he is in good enough shape to bend like a pretzel. He recovered well from that,” he said.

“He assumes that (leadership) role and he does it really well.”

Stuck on 18

The Dragons’ finals hopes are gone after they failed to move off 18 points following the BBQ-gate saga where too many of them behaved like 18-year-olds. There were glimpses against the Roosters of what might have been: Lomax’s creativity, Ravalawa’s brute strength and some resilient defensive resolve at times. Too often they switched off, a problem that haunts Anthony Griffin.

Griffin said he was “really proud” of the way his side came back and not thinking about finals.

“We just dust ourselves off and get up to Rockhampton next week to play the Cowboys,” he said.

“At 16-14 we had our destiny in our own hands and we needed to finish that game off. What the miracles or equations are now I am not too concerned about.”

Originally published as NRL 2021: Star Roosters Tedesco and Walker combine to end Dragons’ finals hopes