James Tedesco responds after Roosters cop massive blow to hopes of winning NRL premiership

James Tedesco is refusing to get disheartened by the Roosters' poor record against the NRL's top sides, with the Tricolours' latest defeat against Melbourne continuing a worrying trend for Trent Robinson's men. A round 16 triumph over the Bulldogs remains the only game the Roosters have won against top-eight opposition this season, with the Storm proving a cut above in last week's impressive 24-8 victory in Melbourne.

The Roosters have consistently been touted as one of the favourites to win the premiership this season but many experts have been left questioning their credentials after watching Craig Bellamy's Storm dismantle them in round 20. The win extended the Storm's dominance over the Roosters, who they have now beaten 10 times in their last 11 matches.

Throw Penrith into the mix and the Roosters' record against two of the best teams in recent seasons is even more grim, with just the one win in their last 20 games against the Panthers and Storm combined. It's hardly the sort of record that justifies the Roosters being considered favourites ahead of either side in this year's premiership race.

However, Tedesco is adamant the class of 2024 is capable of emulating his premiership-winning Roosters sides of 2018 and 2019. This season marks the end of an era for the Roosters with the likes of fellow club greats Luke Keary, Joey Manu and Jared Waerea-Hargreaves moving on at the end of the season and Joseph Suaalii making a switch to rugby union.

Tedesco says the loss against the ladder-leaders was just a blip that can happen against the top teams but he's confident the Roosters squad has the necessary quality to bounce back and put together a run of victories leading into the finals. "When you're playing against a top team, it's tough to win. That's pretty clear," Tedesco said. "Most teams will experience that, especially going down to Melbourne. I don't know how many teams have gone down to Melbourne and won this year.

"But it's a good lesson to learn. We can take some positives out of it because there's probably a big chance we verse them down there again in the finals. If that happens, we can make some improvements and really go on a run and build some confidence at the end of the year like we did last year and take that to the finals."

Roosters face another top-eight battle against in-form Manly

Tedesco said rather than be disheartened, the Roosters need to use the Storm defeat as motivation ahead of another top-eight showdown against fifth-placed Manly on Saturday night. The Sea Eagles are on a three-game winning streak and can leapfrog the Roosters into fourth with a win at Allianz Stadium.

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, making them the flat-track bullies of the NRL in 2024. Despite the damning numbers, Keary says it's not something the Roosters had focused on or were even aware of until this week.

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"That's honestly the first time I've heard it," Keary told reporters on Tuesday. "We obviously know we haven't beaten Penrith in a while and there's a few teams that haven't beaten them in a while, too. But it's a little bit surprising that Melbourne one. We've had a lot of close games against them. Yeah, it's not too concerning. Obviously we're going to have to beat those sides to win it all and we'll hopefully get another shot at a few of those sides at the back-end of the year."

Saturday night's game against Manly also offers the Roosters the change to avenge their previous defeat against the Sea Eagles all the way back in round two. "We're a lot better team than when we versed them in round two," Tedesco said. "We've got to learn our lessons from the weekend and not give away too much possession and penalties and field position.

"But I don't think much of the last four or five years - we're a different team this year and we're in a great position. We've got two games and a bye, which is a great time for us. We can really freshen up and get ready to for the last four games and then hit the ground running for the finals."