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Trent Robinson's damning truth bomb for Roosters as James Tedesco caught in 'ridiculous' furore

Tedesco was given a very dubious reprieve for an act that sparked outrage.

andrew reid
·5-min read

Trent Robinson has slammed his side's defence after the Roosters escaped with a 40-34 win against the Dolphins in the NRL on Friday night. Halfback Sam Walker starred for a Roosters side that was lucky to see captain James Tedesco stay on the field for what looked to be an obvious professional foul in the first half.

The Tri Colours raced out of the blocks after tries to Joseph Suaalii and Walker saw them jump out to a 12-0 lead in Perth. Max Plath pulled one try back after crashing over from dummy half for the Dolphins, before Walker added the Roosters' third after a brilliant chip and chase for himself.

James Tedesco is pictured on the left for Trent Robinson's Roosters.
James Tedesco was lucky not to be binned for 10 minutes for Trent Robinson's Roosters after a first half incident against the Dolphins. Pic: Getty/Nine

Felise Kaufusi crashed over again for the Dolphins before Plath and Tedesco were involved in one of the biggest talking points of the first half. The Dolphins hooker thought he'd done enough to get Tedesco sent to the sin bin after a quick play the ball left the Roosters captain out of position at the ruck, 10 metres out from his own try line.

Tedesco had just helped bring Jack Bostock down in the previous tackle when he was forced to spring to his feet to stop Plath scurrying towards the line. The Roosters captain was clearly not square at marker but proceeded to tackle Plath to the ground, prompting Dolphins players to throw their hands in the air and plead for a penalty from referee Ashley Klein.

Seen here, James Tedesco tackling Max Plath.
James Tedesco was clearly not square on the mark before he tackled Max Plath. Pic: Nine

"That's a sin bin. Well that should be a sin bin," league great Andrew Johns said in commentary for Nine. But referee Klein decided Tedesco's indiscretion only warranted a six-again, with the Roosters dodging a bullet as he was allowed to stay on the field. Jamayne Isaako scored immediately afterwards to temper some of the anger from Dolphins players but viewers were incensed that Tedesco was allowed to remain on the field, denying the Dolphins a chance to press home their advantage further.

Isaako's try and penalty goal made it 20-all at halftime and the Dolphins edged ahead after the break when speedster Hamiso Tabuai-Fidow popped up in support to finish off a slick attacking move. Bennett's men undid their good work with some sloppy mistakes though and it allowed the Roosters back into the contest, with Daniel Tupou grabbing a try and Sitili Tupouniua bagging a quick-fire double to set up a game-defining lead.

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A Bostock try with 10 minutes to play and an Isaiya Katoa penalty goal reduced the deficit to six points to set up a grandstand finish. And despite the Roosters hanging on for the win to cement their spot in third on the ladder, coach Robinson was less than impressed by his side's defence, which has conceded 64 points in the last two games.

“Our tackle was probably the worst it’s been this year and a lot of other things were really good,” the Roosters coach said. “Our composure was good, our execution of our system was really, really good and our tackle was left back in Sydney. You can fix that up. It’s been good really for most of the year. I know we can fix that up in a week. I know there’s some other stuff that I really enjoyed.”

The Roosters' win was soured by a trio of injuries to prop Lindsay Collins, winger Dom Young and Nat Butcher. Collins failed his HIA after colliding with Victor Radley in the first half, while Young left the field in the second half with a right hamstring injury that could see him sidelined for a number of weeks. Butcher came off late with a popped rib cartilage injury and Robinson said he was proud of the way his troops battled to get the win.

“You have got to celebrate the wins and enjoy them and I really enjoyed the way they managed the game tonight,” Robinson said. “Obviously we went down a couple of times against a really good attacking team... and I feel like we did really well. I thought we actually started well in that second half.

"Toups (winger Daniel Tupou) had a poor tackle and they shifted it and it’s quite an easy play and our tackle was completely off. They scored but then our composure was really good. To be 18-6 up and then 18-all, 20-all then 26-20 down and then go ‘okay, how are we going to play this?’ And credit to the way that they went about their game from then on in.”

with AAP