James Tedesco can predict the future.
The Roosters fullback proved he has just as much skill with the microphone as he does the footy while part of Thursday night’s coverage of Penrith’s enthralling 8-6 win over Canterbury on Triple M.
Alongside James Graham and Anthony Maroon, Tedesco made the most of his side’s bye week with a cameo that most listeners won’t soon forget.
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A low scoring affair had the Panthers and Bulldogs in a tight knight contest deep into the game when Tedesco’s prediction came to fruition.
“The more and more this game goes on, Nathan Cleary’s going to have a bigger impact, so we’ll see what happens.”
Tedesco had barely finished his sentence when the impact came in a big way, as Bulldog’s five-eighth Matt Burton had his attempted kick spectacularly charged down by Cleary, who regathered and scored.
“Oh here it is, Cleary,” he said as the moment unfolded.
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The star Roosters fullback turned his seat and locked eyes with fellow commentator James Graham, raising his eyebrow and hands and with a cheeky grin on his face.
“Well we talk about the commentators curse, but what about James Tedesco with the commentator’s crystal ball,” Graham said.
“That wasn’t the impact I was thinking of,” laughed Tedesco.
“But it happened and there he is, that’s just man on the spot, charged down, great play. That’s a momentum changer.”
Cleary’s four pointer ended up being his side’s only try which won them the match in a thrilling contest against the top of the table Bulldogs that went down to the wire.
Penrith’s try came after Lachlan Galvin had come off the bench for Canterbury, shifting halfback Toby Sexton out of position into hooker and taking Reed Mahoney out of the game.
Questions were raised after the game about Canterbury’s need to shift players out of position in order to utilise Galvin in a close game with suggestions the side didn’t need to play the youngster.
“They’ve left themselves in a position where they’re coming first … and they’ve signed a guy now where the team is experimenting this close to the finals, you very rarely see that,” Anasta said on Triple M Friday Morning.
“When Cleary charged the kick down from Burton, that was because Galvin was on the field and Burton was the dominant kicker, and Galvin doesn’t kick long. When Sexton is on they’ve got two options with Sexton and Burton.
“Cleary, being the elite player he is knew that if he put pressure on Burton it was going to be him who was going to be kicking, no one else, and that was the key play that won them the game
“If you peel it all back, if they did just have Burton and Sexton on at that point with two options to kick, they probably don’t get that result.
“The noise will get louder if they lose a couple of games, and it could derail their season. I don’t think it will, but it could.”
