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Young Tiger James Tedesco's backyard field of gold
Josh Massoud
The Sunday Telegraph
March 04, 2012 12:00AM
THIS is the boyhood field of dreams that will today bear first grade fruit for Wests Tigers prodigy James Tedesco.
Raised on a lush Menangle acreage south-west of Sydney, Tedesco spent countless afternoons emulating heroes and perfecting skills on a custom-made footy oval amid 100 head of cattle.
Father, John, uprooted nearby trees and built a set of goalposts with PVC piping to give his son every chance from age six.
Initially cut from Western Suburbs junior representative squads in 2008, the Camden junior kept plugging away in solitude on the large family farm.
Just three seasons later, he was an Australian Schoolboy at the centre of a six-figure bidding war between the Tigers and Dragons.
Wests won out as Tedesco began attracting comparisons to Billy Slater after claiming the club's 2011 Toyota Cup Player of the Year award from just 13 appearances.
Instead of resuming with the NYC team, the 19-year-old was rushed into the full-time squad for pre-season training and held his composure to secure an NRL debut before a full-house at Leichhardt Oval today against Cronulla.
His dad, mother, Rosemary, and brother, Matthew, will be in the Latchem-Robinson stand to watch the fairytale unfold.
John nominated his son's dedication to detail and self-improvement as key factors in this remarkable rise.
"James couldn't make the junior rep squad for Wests when he was 14, and from then on he's always sort of scraped in," John said.
"But once he's made those teams, he's gone on to finish as the best player.
"The big thing is he never cuts corners and always does the right thing.
"Even at the supermarket, he'd always make sure we had the right number of items to go through the express aisle."
A talented sprinter who represented NSW over 100 and 200m as a teenager, Tedesco was always destined to play rugby league.
"I built a set of posts when he started and then a pass-the-ball stand," John said.
"He wanted to run around freely, so I uprooted all the trees and erected a wire fence to stop all the balls from rolling away.
"He used to run out there alone a few afternoons every week, practising his chip kicks and passing.
"I'd get out there and run at him, too. But when he started tackling me too hard, I'd have to wear a padded suit.
"His mother wanted him to continue athletics, but James was always adamant about sticking with footy."
Although the Tigers have shielded Tedesco from talking publicly, coach Tim Sheens has devised a novel way to school the rookie's on-field communication.
Tedesco has trained with a strap-on microphone that allows Sheens to monitor and provide feedback on his level of talk to team-mates in the defensive line.
"We've been miking-up the fullbacks and playmakers for a few years," Sheens said.
"I'm happy with James' talk he just might need to be a bit louder."
Josh Massoud
The Sunday Telegraph
March 04, 2012 12:00AM
THIS is the boyhood field of dreams that will today bear first grade fruit for Wests Tigers prodigy James Tedesco.
Raised on a lush Menangle acreage south-west of Sydney, Tedesco spent countless afternoons emulating heroes and perfecting skills on a custom-made footy oval amid 100 head of cattle.
Father, John, uprooted nearby trees and built a set of goalposts with PVC piping to give his son every chance from age six.
Initially cut from Western Suburbs junior representative squads in 2008, the Camden junior kept plugging away in solitude on the large family farm.
Just three seasons later, he was an Australian Schoolboy at the centre of a six-figure bidding war between the Tigers and Dragons.
Wests won out as Tedesco began attracting comparisons to Billy Slater after claiming the club's 2011 Toyota Cup Player of the Year award from just 13 appearances.
Instead of resuming with the NYC team, the 19-year-old was rushed into the full-time squad for pre-season training and held his composure to secure an NRL debut before a full-house at Leichhardt Oval today against Cronulla.
His dad, mother, Rosemary, and brother, Matthew, will be in the Latchem-Robinson stand to watch the fairytale unfold.
John nominated his son's dedication to detail and self-improvement as key factors in this remarkable rise.
"James couldn't make the junior rep squad for Wests when he was 14, and from then on he's always sort of scraped in," John said.
"But once he's made those teams, he's gone on to finish as the best player.
"The big thing is he never cuts corners and always does the right thing.
"Even at the supermarket, he'd always make sure we had the right number of items to go through the express aisle."
A talented sprinter who represented NSW over 100 and 200m as a teenager, Tedesco was always destined to play rugby league.
"I built a set of posts when he started and then a pass-the-ball stand," John said.
"He wanted to run around freely, so I uprooted all the trees and erected a wire fence to stop all the balls from rolling away.
"He used to run out there alone a few afternoons every week, practising his chip kicks and passing.
"I'd get out there and run at him, too. But when he started tackling me too hard, I'd have to wear a padded suit.
"His mother wanted him to continue athletics, but James was always adamant about sticking with footy."
Although the Tigers have shielded Tedesco from talking publicly, coach Tim Sheens has devised a novel way to school the rookie's on-field communication.
Tedesco has trained with a strap-on microphone that allows Sheens to monitor and provide feedback on his level of talk to team-mates in the defensive line.
"We've been miking-up the fullbacks and playmakers for a few years," Sheens said.
"I'm happy with James' talk he just might need to be a bit louder."
