James Tedesco is a nice fella – it just so happens that he’s also one of the greatest fullbacks to ever pull on a boot anywhere in the world in the history of the sport of rugby league.
He’s a freak.
A legend.
Tedesco is a superhero to those that support the Sydney Roosters and still a very real role model for young fans and aspiring players living out where he grew up in Menangle.
Just when we began throwing Billy Slater’s name in the ring to surpass the mighty Graeme Langlands – Tedesco went to another level.
Time will decide, but at the very least, Slater and Tedesco are on par for now.
True giants of the number one jersey.
Yet here we are with people suggesting Tedesco might need to be dropped from the New South Wales team for Game II of the 2023 State of the Origin series.
It won’t happen but maybe it should.
Not because Tedesco had a poor game.
But there’s a few reasons why people might be justified in thinking this way.
Firstly, the Blues skipper is allowed to have a bad night.
He has been a nemesis to the Maroons for years.
A Kangaroos superstar. A legitimate, consistent poster boy for the Roosters, Blues and Australia for so long.
We expect Tedesco to play at such a level that anything below makes you raise your eyebrows.
Blues coach Brad Fittler loves Tedesco.
But it’s Fittler that let Tedesco down in Game I.
Because it was Fittler’s predictable tactics and forward rotations that have plagued his tenure as head coach of the Blues in Origin. The selection of Nathan Cleary at halfback was always going to happen but the Blues fell on their sword the moment they sprayed the Penrith perfume all over themselves and went with Jahrome Luai at five-eigth – especially after Cleary went on record before selection that Luai was his preferred half.
Cleary – or no other halfback – should be telling media or their coaches who they want playing beside them in a representative side.
The incumbent halfback had another forgettable evening in a sky blue jersey.
Yet here we are.
Luai had a good game but he played within the boundaries of his skillset.
He doesn’t have an Origin-level kicking game or the ability to build pressure as a legitimate ball-player.
Api Koroisau was the right choice at dummy half but it appeared he was never in control of the attack or ever had an overriding call option over Cleary and or Luai.
That negates Tedesco through the middle of the field and forces him to follow Cleary and Luai side-to-side like they were in Game I in Adelaide.
Yeah, Tedesco made some poor decisions in defence and some might argue he hasn’t developed his passing game the way Slater did in his later years but this was not on Tedesco.
This was on Fittler and the trickle down from there.
Because it seems Queensland care more about winning Game I than the Blues, generally speaking and now the Blues are pressed against a wall with nowhere to go.
Fittler can’t drop Tedesco.
Because Fittler knows he’s done wrong by Tedesco.
Simple as that.
Furthermore, if Fittler and his coaching staff don’t change their ways and admit to their faults which they haven’t before, they’ll lose again in Brisbane and that could be Tedesco done.
The Blues would then return to Sydney for a “dead rubber” in a half-empty Accor Stadium – all of them grinding their teeth at another Blues series defeat.
Tedesco deserves better in 2023 as the Blues captain.
But it appears he’ll get no help from the “tacticians” hired to help him be the best player he can be within the realms of what he has left in the tank.
And if he was used correctly – that tank could help the Blues escape from yet another Maroon nightmare.
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