James Tedesco hits back at critics after brutal Roosters fallout from Storm defeat

James Tedesco has defended his team after the damaging Storm loss last Saturday after doubts were raised over the Roosters' title push in light of their record against the top teams. The Roosters were shellshocked last weekend when Craig Bellamy's team thoroughly outplayed the visitors at AAMI Park.

The Storm won 24-8 at home against the Roosters and they did so without playmaker Cameron Munster. Tedesco and his teammates had no answers against the NRL leaders across the 80 minutes. The Roosters now face the possibility of dropping outside of the top four if they lose to Manly this weekend. And the manner of the defeat against the Storm has raised concern over their record against the top two teams.

The Roosters are the best attacking team in 2024, but they've only managed one win in their past 20 clashes against Penrith and Melbourne. To make matters more worrying for Trent Robinson's men, the Roosters have lost seven of their last eight games against the current top eight.

Many believes the Roosters could push for the premiership in 2024. But with no more games against the Storm, Panthers and Sharks in 2024 during the regular season, doubts will remain over their title chances.

And while Tedesco is fully aware of the record against the top teams, the Roosters captain feels the team has closed the gap between the elite and are in for a real shot in 2024. “We haven’t beaten them this year, but that’s for you guys to talk about,” Tedesco said to reporters on Thursday.

“We know that when we play the top teams, it’s obviously not as easy to win. Obviously, it wasn’t our best performance on the weekend, but we’ll take our lessons when we play them later in the year.

“I think in previous years there probably was a bit more of a gap and we felt like we probably weren’t up to that level, but we definitely feel like we’re up to that level now. Those games can go either way which they have when we played them earlier this year, but we have to take those lessons and improve from them.

“It’s not a mental thing – these are good teams. We’ve been playing some really good footy but we had guys backing up (from Origin) who weren’t with us for the whole week. It’s not easy going down to Melbourne. I don’t know how many teams have done that this year – probably not many – so we need to take our lessons from it because there’s a big chance that we’ll go down there again possibly in the finals.”

James Tedesco calls for Roosters to improve discipline

The Roosters are the most penalised team in the NRL this year. And their ill-discipline cost them again against Melbourne last weekend with the Roosters playing 20 minutes of the contest with just 12 men. And Tedesco has pinpointed the area as one that they can improve heading into the NRL finals.

"We’ve talked about our discipline and penalties in the past that have let us down, but they were tough ones on the weekend,” Tedesco added. “They weren’t like high tackles or stuff like that – they were spur-of-the moment decisions that are hard to talk negatively about because they’re split-second decisions that were sin bin worthy.

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“It’s hard to win games when you’re down a man. We can’t be doing that because it’s let us down in the past. It’s hard because we want to be aggressive and go after teams, but we can’t have professional fouls like that.” The Roosters play the Sea Eagles on Saturday. The winner will sit in fourth place on the ladder heading into round 22.

The Sea Eagles are on a three-game winning streak heading into the Allianz Stadium clash. The match represents another chance for the Roosters to improve their record against top-eight sides this season, which currently stands at one win and seven losses. Comparatively, the Roosters are 10-0 against the bottom-eight sides.