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It’s been a good run. One of the best. You’ll go down a legend. But Teddy, we might need to have the talk.
If Blues captain James Tedesco was looking for a sign, being out-jumped by his clubmate, prop forward Lindsay Collins, for the try that clinched it for the Maroons in Game 1 might have been a little too on the nose.
Being sat on his backside as Hamiso Tabuai-Fidow sped past him for a late Queensland score had already looked like it might end up being the metaphor, only for the soaring Collins to get into the mix.
To put a bow on the feeling that this might have been a changing of the guard, the emergence of another gun number one on the other team, Reece Walsh, doing all the things that Tedesco wasn’t, was striking too.
The two Origin fullbacks couldn’t have had more differing form lines coming in.
The new boy at the back for Queensland, has been close to the best player in the NRL through the opening phase of the season, while the most experienced player in the Blues side, is enduring one of the worst trots of his career in a struggling Roosters side.
Tedesco put in as energetic a performance as anyone in navy blue, but found little reward for his effort. His yardage and effort were there, but there was little threat or invention from the superstar fullback.
As much as he buzzed around the football, nothing seemed to come off and, in many ways, it was a replication of the form he has shown at club level: lots of sideways play, little penetration.
The Maroons’ umbrella defence sent Tedesco up blind alleys all night, and where once magic followed the fullback around, it’s happening less and less these days. His first half no try, denied by an excellent Murray Taulagi tackle, would not have happened two years ago.
At club level, there’s been a myriad of excuses. The lack of distraction, in the form of push supports, and deception, from decoys, have been pointed out by the man himself in interviews, and backed up by data. The Chooks’ paucity of offloads, too, doesn’t help.
Given that Teddy was a player who loved getting the ball against broken lines, jinking through and producing something amazing, that change of service levels stings.
In Origin, it was much the same. The attacking effort levels weren’t there, with minimal off the ball work done to aid Tedesco and despite having three of the offloadiest offloaders that ever offloaded in Tevita Pangai junior, Payne Haas and Junior Paulo, NSW managed just six in the game – none of which were from forwards.
No supports and no offloads makes James a dull boy, and that might go a long way to explaining his inability to get his side going.
But it could be simply that his ability to influence at the highest level is not there anymore.
He’s 30 now, but in footy years, far older: 225 NRL games doesn’t sound that much, but when you factor in that Tedesco has featured in every rep game going in that time as well, plus bulk finals games, and there are plenty of miles on the clock.
He’s also accumulated those in a relatively short time, with 17 or more in every season since 2015. Luke Keary, who debuted the year before, has over 25 fewer NRL games played, plus minimal rep footy.
Brad Fittler. (Photo by Bradley Kanaris/Getty Images)
In Tedesco’s case, that’s an extra 21 games of Origin – he hasn’t missed one since debuting in Game 3, 2016 – and being the only Australian to feature at every game of last year’s World Cup. It’s hard to think of anyone with more games in the legs than the NSW captain.
Age catches everyone, but it might not be what catches Tedesco first. The list of fullbacks available to NSW is frightening, but nobody has got a sniff of the jersey, such is the esteem that the incumbent holds.
Indeed, as NSW’s best player in rep footy for several years, there was little serious clamour for him to be replaced despite his poorest start to an NRL campaign in years.
But the more the Blues lose, the louder the drums will beat. There’s two exceptional other fullbacks already in contention, with Tom Trbojevic and Latrell Mitchell – when fit – forced to play out of position at centre.
Turbo, for all his health concerns, outranks Teddy in every major statistical category in 2023, while Latrell is the ultimate gamebreaker, who can change any game in an instant.
There’s also Dylan Edwards, the reigning Dally M Fullback of the Year and Clive Churchill Medallist, widely regarded as the best current player never to have played rep footy at any level.
One could even mention Will Kennedy, enjoying a breakout season at Cronulla, or Clint Gutherson, consistently Parramatta’s best player so far this campaign.
The competition for the Blues’ 1 jumper is as hot as it is anywhere, in any team, in any position in the world. Tedesco, a modern great, is not above scrutiny.
It could be that his fate is tied to that of his coach, who will surely be fired if the Blues don’t complete the miracle turnaround and win the series. If Brad Fittler departs, then it might make sense for his captain to ride off into the sunset with him.
Should that happen, Tedesco would depart as arguably the best ever to play the role for NSW.
Such is his history in the arena, nobody would put it past Tedesco to be the best on the field in Game 2 and Game 3, winning the shield back in the process. He was arguably the best in last year’s Origin while on the losing side, and has proven time and again his abilities at this level.
But should the results now follow, then it could be difficult conversation time for the Blues. The pressure is on like never before for Tedesco.