NRL Fantasy player watch: James Tedesco
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NRL Fantasy 2018
James Tedesco, WFB, $761,000
Long-time Fantasy stud James Tedesco was the highest averaging winger-fullback in Fantasy in 2017 and consequently starts this year as the priciest option at the back.
Scoring potential: 5/5
Tedesco is a tackle-busting phenomenon; his 172 tackle busts in 2017 at just over eight per game were the best in the NRL and added up to a 24-point head-start each game. He racks up the metres (175 per week in 2017) and you'd have to think his shift from Concord to a slick Roosters team will help him easily improve on his five tries, 10 line break assists and eight try assists from last year.
Reliability: 4/5
Coaches who are prepared to splash out three quarters of a million of their cap on a fullback can at least rest easy in the knowledge that the once injury-prone custodian has hardly missed a game for Wests Tigers in the past three seasons (outside a handful of separate minor niggles in 2016). Tedesco likely misses round 13 due to Origin and may earn an additional rest pre- or post-Origin but otherwise his spot in the Roosters No.1 jersey is as safe as houses.
Value: 3/5
As mentioned above, there's every chance his move to an attacking Roosters team playing alongside the likes of Cooper Cronk and Luke Keary and a star-studded forward pack could see Tedesco's tries and assists skyrocket which would boost his already-lofty average of 52 potentially towards the 60-mark – meaning the priciest WFB in the game could increase further in value too.
