Sydney Roosters fullback James Tedesco has revealed captaining a premiership was potentially the last thing he wanted to do in his career.
Tedesco, who led from the front and won the Clive Churchill Medal in Sunday night's tough one-point grand final win against the Newcastle Knights, lifted the Provan-Summons trophy and admitted post-game he was emotional in ways he wasn't during the 2018 and 2019 grand final victories.
"I think the captaincy. It was a goal of mine since taking over. You want to win a premiership as a captain. That's pretty clear. Around our offices, there are pictures of the great captains who have won a premiership with the club," Tedesco said.
"I felt like that was probably the last thing I wanted to do in my career. That was a burning desire for me. It's a great honour, and that feeling of leading the team to a premiership. I wasn't emotional in 2018 and 2019, but the emotions felt stronger this time around."
Tedesco has one year left on his contract, and while he has previously spoken about potentially playing on beyond the end of the deal, the now 33-year-old could be weighing up pulling the pin on his career.
The champion fullback, almost certain to be the Kangaroos fullback during the upcoming Rugby League World Cup, has been the best fullback in the game for much of his career and proved it again on Sunday, running for almost 400 metres in a staggering display.
The Roosters captain admitted he was fatigued at the back end of the physical war with Newcastle.
"I was very fatigued by the end of it, but our boys just worked that hard in defence, and allowed me to bring the ball back in good positions," Tedesco said.
"We had confidence and belief that we could win this game no matter what that looked like, and it wasn't pretty at some stages. We had to work so hard for it.
"I'm just really proud to captain this club with the journey we have been on this year."
His coach Trent Robinson paid praise to the many different styles Tedesco has had to play throughout his career.
"I think Teddy has played many different forms in his career. He has Teddy's style; I've seen him play grand finals where it's opened up, but [tonight] Teddy just had to grind and grind. He had to take the first ball, he had to take the fourth ball, he had to keep moving," Robinson said.
"Usually Ted doesn't get fatigued, but he was in the red tonight. I looked at him with about 20 to go, and he just kept going and going.
"I'm so glad. Ted has done a lot in his career; he has worked so hard to captain a Grand Final-winning team, and to get Clive Churchill on the back of it, I'm so happy for him."
