James Tedesco has scored two tries in five minutes to usher in the Sydney Roosters’ new era with a 28-26 pre-season NRL trial win over Manly in Gosford.
After Manly jumped out to a 16-0 lead in the opening eight minutes, Tedesco rebounded from a quiet first-half to put the Roosters in the lead with 25 minutes to play in his and Cooper Cronk’s first game for the club.
Cronk also looked comfortable as he got through 50 minutes before being rested as both sides made plenty of handling errors.
Bereft of attacking opportunities after Manly held the ball exclusively for the first 11 minutes, Cronk’s combination with hooker Jake Friend looked slick as he remained ever-vocal in attack.
But it was left to Latrell Mitchell to twice create something out of nothing in the opening 40 to put the Roosters back in the match as he threatened to fulfil his highly-heralded potential this season.
His first came when he broke 60 metres down the left wing to open the Roosters’ scoring before powering through four Sea Eagles on the half-time break to reduce the margin to six.
Tedesco then exploded early in the second half to put an exclamation mark on his first 60-minute performance for the club.
After limited involvement early, he pounced on a Jake Friend grubber in the 50th minute to bring the Roosters level at 22-22 before a try-scoring chip-chase five minutes later to give his new team a six-point lead.
Manly threatened to fight back late when Akuila Uate crossed but Api Koroisau missed the kick from the sideline to level the match.
Regardless, coach Trent Barrett would have been happy with his new-look spine with Lachlan Croker at five-eighth as both sides finished with five tries.
The rookie had a hand in Manly’s opening four-pointer as he and Daly Cherry-Evans spread the ball right in the second minute and had plenty of involvement as the Sea Eagles built their lead.
He and Cherry-Evans spent 70 minutes together in their only trial appearance ahead of their round-one clash against Newcastle.
Fullback Tom Trbojevic scored in the first-half off hooker Koroisau while older brother Jake got through 53 busy minutes in his return from a World Cup-ending pectoral injury.
