Even at high school Jack de Belin knew James Tedesco was destined for rugby league greatness.
Not that it was his initial thought when he laid eyes on the future NSW fullback at St Gregory’s College in Campbelltown.
“He was a lot smaller back then. He was a skinny, lightning-quick player with great skill,” de Belin told AAP.
“He would have been strong but he just hadn’t filled out.”
De Belin caught an early glimpse of his Blues teammate and State of Origin sensation in the making while boarding at the school famed for its production line of top-shelf NRL players.
Tedesco, in the year below de Belin and Alex McKinnon, was a lanky 15-year-old.
Even then there was something about his ball-playing style, the way he could break the line and make it look easy.
“You could tell he was destined for greatness,” de Belin said.
“He always had a cool head on him and had the skills to match.
“And now he’s grown into himself a bit, bulked up and he’s as strong as they come. He’s dynamite.
“You look at him now and he’s almost tipping 100 kilos. He’s a lot thicker than you think – he’s got a wide load, a very wide bucket.”
That wide bucket will be the target of every man in Maroon on Sunday night after Tedesco’s game-one man-of-the-match display.
A fortnight after that performance in Melbourne – the best by any NSW fullback this decade – the 25-year-old was quick to acknowledge how his formative years helped his development.
“St Greg’s was awesome,” Tedesco said.
“I played five-eighth for a lot of it; that helped my skills for the future in playing fullback.
“Because obviously ball skills in five-eighth is quite important, it’s quite similar to the fullback role. That definitely helped me.”
Being younger and a day student, Tedesco didn’t get a chance to properly hit off with de Belin before the Blues lock finished school and signed with St George Illawarra.
But he’ll never forget when the soon-to-be Dragons star arrived to start year 11.
“He sort of came and no one really knew who he was but in trials he had head gear on and was smashing everyone, so everyone knew who he was quite quickly,” he recalled.
“Him and Alex McKinnon, they were in the same year and they were the two guns everyone was watching in the year above.
“I was in the first-grade team while he was in year 12 but I didn’t get a game.”