Sydney Roosters superstar James Tedesco is excited about 18-year-old Sam Walker’s NRL debut this Sunday against the New Zealand Warriors.
The highly-rated youngster comes into the Roosters side to replace Luke Keary after he suffered an ACL injury last week.
Tedesco told Andrew Voss on SEN 1170 Breakfast that the young halfback is an “awesome player” that proved he can contribute straight away following a strong pre-season.
“It’s devastating for us and for Luke (Keary), no one wants to have a season ending injury and we came in on Monday a bit down,” Tedesco said.
“But we sort of tried to flush it as best we could and get excited about having Sam Walker come in.
“I know there’s a lot of excitement that’s built up about him, he’s such an awesome player and he’s been training the house down in the pre-season, he’s got his opportunity a bit earlier than we thought.”
Tedesco also revealed that Walker took it upon himself to present to the side about how he thinks they should take on the Warriors.
“He actually got up and told us how we were going to play, he presented in front of our team and for an 18-year-old to do that it takes some courage,” Tedesco added.
“We’re all excited to have him on board and we know it’s going to be hard to do what Keary’s done for us, but we’re excited about him developing and becoming our man this year.”
The Roosters will aim to go 3-1 as they take on the Warriors on Easter Sunday at the SCG.
Listen to Tedesco’s full chat with Voss below.