Ice-cool Teddy boy
He has endured the wrath of Wests Tigers fans, but this budding Blues superstar plans to put the freeze on Queensland’s Origin dominance, writes Daniel McKenzie
FROM injuries, drawn-out contract negotiations and being bashed during massages, fledgling NSW star James Tedesco is embracing his young side’s days in the sun.
Fighting to be fit for tonight’s State of Origin decider after a suffering a lateral ligament injury to his ankle in a game-two try celebration with Mitchell Pearce, Tedesco left no stone unturned in his preparation during the Blues’ sunny camp at Kingscliff in northern NSW.
He was icing up to four times a day, with stints in a Kryofix chamber, which requires enduring up to three minutes in a liquid nitrogen chamber that falls to a temperature of minus 150C.
Tedesco loves the warm weather after the cold treatments.
“It’s better up here than down in Sydney, because when you get out it’s freezing as well. At least when you get out here there’s a bit of sun, so that helps,” Tedesco said from the northern camp, which paid dividends in game one.
His icy treatment is enhanced by mystery massage therapist Anthony Carbone, who was flown into camp to work with up to eight Blues players utilising his unique and painful brand of service.
“I’ve been seeing him pretty much every day,” Tedesco said of Carbone, who is not a part of NSWRL’s official management or coaching staff.
“He bashes you ... There’s no nice way to put it. He smashes you and rips in. He smashes your body and gets it right.”
While the bashings mirror those of the metaphorical ones received at the hands of the West Tigers’ faithful – who labelled him moneyhungry for signing a fouryear deal with the Sydney Roosters from 2018 – Tedesco has taken it all in his stride.
As his profile and reputation has soared, the extreme measures he is taking to be fit and his handling of muchpublicised contract negotiations show a refusal to be weighed down.
Tedesco recently put Darius Boyd and Billy Slater on notice that he wants to become the No.1 fullback in the game.
His performance in game one, when he ran for more than 200m, produced a gamehigh 14 line breaks, scored a try and set one up, shows Tedesco is already well on his way.
“We’re taking confidence from game one and how we played up here,” he said.
“There’s not a great history of us winning up here (Suncorp Stadium) in the first place, so we proved that wrong in game one.”
Fast becoming a NSW lucky charm with three wins in his four Origin games, Tedesco’s career has blossomed since his days of commanding his very own footy field in his youth at the family property in Menangle.
At just 24, Tedesco is synonymous with a youthful Blues side packed with talent and is ready to be a catalyst in NSW’s resurgence.
“We’re a young team and we want to create our own history. We can start that by winning this series – that will be a good stepping stone for us,” Tedesco said.
“If we can start with a series win, I think we can build something into the future to win for the next few years.
“We’ve kept the same squad this whole year, and there’s no reason we can’t keep our squad for the next few years, so it’s a bright future for NSW.”