James Tedesco

After showing potential in the early stages of the game, Tedesco suffered an injury to his knee in the 30th minute.

The tear to the anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee was the end of his season.

Team-mate Benji Marshall said, "Just seeing his reaction in the sheds, he was crying in there and it brought a tear to a few of the boys' eyes as well, because we see him as such a great talent and he's fitted into the squad well and he's a really good kid."

James Tedesco (born 8 January 1993), nicknamed "Teddy", is a professional rugby league footballer who plays as a and captains the Sydney Roosters in the National Rugby League (NRL), New South Wales rugby league team and Australia.

He previously played for the Wests Tigers.

He has played for Italy and Australia at international level.

Tedesco has played at representative level for the Prime Minister's XIII, New South Wales City and New South Wales in the State of Origin series.

In 2010, he made the Australian Schoolboys team.

"I made the Australian Schoolboys and I learnt to just have confidence in my own ability. I realised it was there – that I had a bit of talent – I just needed the confidence to show it," he said.

Tedesco commenced the 2011 season playing in the S. G. Ball Cup, but was promoted to the Wests Tigers NYC team from round 13.

In just his third game he equaled the club record of scoring 4 tries in one match, and went on to be named the team's player of the year.

Tedesco was a student of St Gregory's College, Campbelltown, and was in year 7 when Chris Lawrence was studying year 12, at which point Lawrence had already debuted 1st Grade for their local NRL team Wests Tigers, for whom Tedesco would go on to debut.

Tedesco played on the wing for the Western Suburbs Magpies in the Harold Matthews Cup competition, with David Nofoaluma at fullback.

Tedesco returned to first grade in round 4 of the 2013 season, and played on the wing for four weeks.

In April, he was chosen to play for NSW City in the annual City vs Country Origin match.

Having only appeared in four NRL matches at that time, he was the least experienced player to ever participate in the match.

"When they called me up, I thought it was a joke. Even when Brad Fittler got on the phone I didn't think it was real. It was also a problem, because I didn't know whether I was eligible for City or Country," Tedesco said.

Tedesco played at fullback in City's 18–12 loss at Coffs Harbour.

With Tim Moltzen moving to halfback before suffering a season-ending injury, Tedesco played most of the rest of the season at fullback, scoring 8 tries in 19 matches.

He spent months playing with a cracked fibula, after being advised that he was unlikely to make the injury any worse by playing.

Tedesco said the leg was painful when knocked.

"It does kill for about five minutes or so, then you run it off and it goes away."

At the end of the season, Tedesco was chosen to represent Italy at the 2013 Rugby League World Cup.

With Anthony Minichiello captaining and playing at fullback, Tedesco played at right centre for the three games.

In his international debut, he scored a try as Italy defeated Wales 32–16.

In February, Tedesco was selected in the Tigers inaugural Auckland Nines squad.

Attracting the attention of other clubs, Tedesco was the focus of a "bidding war" between the Wests Tigers and St George Illawarra, resulting in the Tigers signing him until the end of 2014.

Weeks later, he was named at fullback for the team's first trial-match for the year.

However, coach Tim Sheens said he was unlikely to be playing at fullback at the start of the regular season, saying, "'I don't necessarily want to throw that on him at this point. I've got some experienced options."

Having played well in both pre-season trials, Tedesco was named in the starting team to play the Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks in the first game of the season.

On 27 May, he signed a 3-year contract with the Canberra Raiders starting in 2015.

A week later, Tedesco back flipped on his deal with the Raiders to stay with the Tigers.

During the round 16 clash with the Raiders, Tedesco lasted 15 seconds before he fractured his patella.

Tedesco missed the rest of the season.

He is a dual NRL premiership winning player of 2018 and 2019.

Tedesco was born in the north-western Sydney suburb of Ryde, New South Wales, Australia.

His father is of Italian descent.

He was raised on a 100 hectare property in Menangle in Sydney's south west, complete with his own football field with goal posts.

Tedesco played his junior football with the Camden Rams.

His father said of his early years, "James couldn't even make the junior rep squad for Wests when he was 14, and from then on he's always sort of scraped in. But once he's made those teams, he's gone on to finish as the best player."