Teddy’s ‘wake-up call’ after shock Tonga loss
RUGBY LEAGUE: James Tedesco has had the Midas touch all year but it is his final pass of the season which has given the Kangaroos superstar a “wake-up call”.
Tedesco has made a habit of scoring matchwinning tries at the dying stages in big games this year.
But against Tonga on Saturday night he could not quite replicate that moment. Tedesco was centimetres from scoring the matchwinner as Australia trailed by four. But it was a pass later in the set which will haunt the Australian fullback.
He had to deliver a pass to winger Nick Cotric who would have scored to draw the scores level but the pass was too difficult for Cotric to take.
“Everyone is saying how good I am,” Tedesco said. “I still have a lot of stuff to work on. It’s good to have that wake-up call that I need to keep improving and working on my game to stay at the top.
“It’s disappointing. Not to execute that last pass. That’s my job. I’ve had a lot of success in the last few minutes over this year.
“It didn’t come off. That’s on me.”
Tedesco said he was hoping for that big moment to come.
But rather than waiting for the play, the Dally M ‘player of the year’ said he was desperate for it come.
“For me it’s not searching for it,” Tedesco said. “It’s playing my game, if it comes it comes. When you go searching for it things won’t come off. Maybe I was doing that in the last five or 10. It just wasn’t coming off. It’s a good reminder for me.”
Michael Carayannis
CAUGHT: James Tedesco is tackled by William Hopoate.