New South Wales will head to Lang Park for State of Origin II as despised and friendless outsiders with a captain and coach under fire, a fanbase expecting the worst and 52,000 Queensland screamers ready and waiting to show these blokes why they just don’t get Origin.
The odds are against James Tedesco’s side in a very literal sense. At the time of writing, the bookies have the Blues as the heaviest New South Wales underdogs since the prime years of Queensland’s streak of eight series wins in a row.
After that loss in Adelaide last month the knives have come out and nobody’s been shy about sharpening them up, especially when it comes to Tedesco who, by his own admission, had a tough one in the series opener.
Now there are doubts, which Tedesco hasn’t dealt with for a long time, and plenty of them. There are questions over whether he is the man to wear the fullback jersey — questions that haven’t been raised since the night he first pulled it on back in 2016.
When the Blues lose, nobody is safe from the blowback, and it comes thunderously, quickly and viciously. With what Tedesco’s done, it shouldn’t be that way – if anyone in this Blues team has earned a little credit, it’s him — but the past doesn’t matter for the New South Wales public as much as the present and the future.
The Maroons venerate their heroes so much they find them hard to let go, but the Blues are always looking for the next ones, and no real player — not even one as accomplished as Tedesco — can match what might have happened down the road New South Wales didn’t take.
That might be unfair, but fairness has nothing to do with it. It’s just how it is and the only thing that will turn the tide and get the state back onside is a Game II victory that many seem to feel is impossible.
The calls to replace the state’s best-ever fullback and best overall player since Andrew Johns’s retirement have been loud and angry. If conventional wisdom prevails and Queensland wrap up the series, they will become deafening.
But Tedesco doesn’t want or need a sob story. He knows he has to be better if his team is going to be better, and he knows how they both can do it. You aren’t as good as he’s been for as long as he’s been without a pretty firm grasp on how you’re going and how you got there.
“Some of our effort areas weren’t up to scratch — in Origin you have to keep working, and I think most of us can put our hands up and say we didn’t leave it all out there,” Tedesco said.
“Once we’re doing that for each other, that’s when we ice those big moments.
“That’s a big one for me; being clear on my role in the team and getting back to my footy and enjoying it and not carrying that weight.
“At the time I didn’t [feel that weight] but looking back I could see there was more worrying than going out there and getting excited and creating the win.
“Even in the last 10 I was like, ‘I hope we can win,’ and that’s not the mentality [you can have], especially not in Origin.
“You have to keep going after the win. You know it’ll come down to the last few minutes and you have to be ready to nail it. That’s a good lesson for me.”
If the Blues drop a third series in four years, Brad Fittler will be all but gone as coach. And if the axe falls, then all bets are off. If there is a new coach, whoever it may be, they will want to put their own stamp on the side.
That could easily involve a new fullback, a new captain or both. If things go the way seemingly everybody thinks they will, there’s every chance we are looking at the beginning of the end of the James Tedesco era.
That day will eventually come for Tedesco, as it’s come for every Origin great. But it doesn’t have to be yet. The eulogies don’t have to be written yet. There’s still time to turn it around, even against all these odds.
There’s still a fight to be had and the Blues, at the very least, have the weapons to go down swinging, even without Latrell Mitchell.
With Damien Cook, Reece Robson and Mitchell Moses joining the side they have the players to attack through the middle with their speed, a plan which produced Tedesco’s best Origin performances in 2018-19.
The success of such a plan will depend heavily on Moses, who replaces the injured Nathan Cleary at halfback. A close mate of Tedesco’s, the combination between the two former Tigers teammates will prove crucial if the Blues are to pull off this heist.
“Ever since 2021 when he debuted [for New South Wales] I feel like he’s really matured as a player, on and off the field, and he’s really leading that Parramatta team. He’s leading the way in here as well. And he has to — he’s our halfback,” Tedesco said.
“If you look back at those Tigers days, we created a lot of tries together and that’s because he’s such an instinctive player.
“You watch him with Parra and how he links with Gutho (Clint Gutherson). He’s a runner and he creates space with his speed.
“Whenever one goes through we support each other, and that connection off the field definitely helps. We don’t have to say much to work on that relationship. It’s already there.”
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