By Billie Eder
If the Roosters lose against Manly this weekend, they can put a line through their season.
Skipper James Tedesco is only too aware of that fact, admitting it is do-or-die for his team at the SCG this Thursday.
“Throughout the whole year, when things haven’t gone our way we’ve all dropped our heads and that’s resulted in some bad losses,” Tedesco said. “We’re just trying to remain confident and have that belief in the team.
“It’s pretty clear now, we’ve just got to go out and win. We’ve got no second chances. Just got to go out and win.”
Even if the Roosters win all five of their remaining games, they still won’t have as many premiership points as ladder-leaders Penrith and Brisbane have right now. Their last win against a top-eight side was a 14-0 victory over the Warriors in round nine.
But Tedesco said there was still an expectation on them to win games, and the players still believed they could make the finals.
James Tedesco against the Broncos last week.Credit: Getty
“Especially at the Roosters, we’re expected to win premierships and be at the top, and when you’re not up there, there is that bit of pressure on why you’re not performing,” Tedesco said.
“For me, it’s about not making everyone else feel like that, and making sure it’s not filtered out throughout the team because if everyone else feels like that we’re going to be even worse.
“That’s been clear for me the past couple of weeks, just instilling the belief, making sure we’re all clear on what we need to go out and do, and back ourselves.”
Tedesco was heavily criticised for missing his team’s round 20 loss to the Storm after coach Trent Robinson decided to rest his skipper following the Blues’ win in Origin III.
“When you’re not going too well, and your team’s not going well, people kick you while you’re down,” Tedesco said of the criticism.
“It was obviously a team decision, a Robbo [Trent Robinson] decision, and there was no problems with it until someone wrote about it and it became a media storm.”
The Tricolours will have to win every game, including their final regular-season match against the Rabbitohs in round 27 - and hope for some upsets in other games - to keep their dream of finals football alive.
“There is still a lot of belief and faith that we have to win every game, that’s plain and simple,” Tedesco said. “We’ve just got to go out and execute now, which we just haven’t done it consistently enough this year, which is just tough. It’s disappointing.”
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