Origin absences could help Roosters lift: Tedesco

NSW captain James Tedesco insists the State of Origin series will not deal a hammer blow to the Sydney Roosters’ sputtering season, claiming the NRL side may improve without him on deck.

In Trent Robinson’s 11 seasons at the helm, only once have the Roosters entered the Origin period with a worse record than the 5-6 they posted ahead of the first game in this year’s series.

The Roosters have lost four of their past fives matches, with points difficult to come by in that time.

In three of those games, the Tricolours have been restricted to only one try – each of those scored when the result was already beyond doubt.

On the occasions their attack has fired this season, daftar 1000+ situs; https://bookmarklinkz.com, it has been Tedesco pulling the strings.

The fullback was man-of-the-match in a tight win over Canterbury in round 14 and bagged two tries in the Roosters’ previous game, a two-point loss to St George Illawarra.

But Tedesco and in-form prop Lindsay Collins both miss Saturday’s clash against Newcastle, who took it up to top-four hopefuls Brisbane last week.

The Knights will only miss Tyson Frizell to Origin duty and with a win could push the Roosters to as low as 14th on the NRL ladder.

Tedesco and Collins will be in and out of training for the three weeks after the Knights match as Origin put demands on their time.

But Tedesco rejected suggestions his absence would push the Roosters further behind their NRL rivals.

“We know we’re not at the standard we want to be,” he told AAP on Friday.

“Our connection and working for each other as a team has just not been there. It’s disappointing because we’re halfway through the year and that’s still the result.

“But the boys lift when I’m not there, to be honest.

“Jared (Waerea-Hargreaves) and (Luke) Keary especially, they’ll be co-captains and they like that responsibility. Everyone knows we’ve got to lift.”

The Roosters are gambling on rookie Sandon Smith to help direct traffic from the halves as Sam Walker nears the end of his recovery from a knee injury.

Roosters coach Trent Robinson has also shifted Nat Butcher to the middle to cover for Collins and recalled Naufahu Whyte for his ninth NRL game.

Robinson is looking for the positives amid the Origin-enforced changes.

“You enjoy these weeks,” he said.

“A lot of those guys, they’re in Origin for a reason and they do lead the way.

“But this is where you find the other guys, often the future guys, that are going to do it at the back end of the year or next year.”