James Tedesco insists there is no reason to rush in a succession plan at the Sydney Roosters, adamant he has years of his best football left in the No.1 jersey.
Tedesco is one of the biggest names in the NRL off contract at the end of next season, but expects to have an extension sorted within months.
There had been a thought that the Tricolours could potentially make a play for in-demand Melbourne No.1 Ryan Papenhuyzen, in a bid to shore up longer-term certainty at fullback.
Tedesco confirmed this week he had spoken to coach Trent Robinson about positional switches in the future, including potentially moving into the halves.
But the 31-year-old is confident there is no need to sign another fullback, believing the 2024 campaign was his best since his Dally M year of 2019.
"I’ve chatted to Robbo maybe last year, I said I was willing to play in the halves or five-eighth but I don’t think it’s going to happen," Tedesco said.
"Stats wise, I had one of my best years.
"We (the media) are only taking about (succession planning with recruitment) because of age, whereas I don’t see that as an issue.
"If things are dropping because of my age, I understand, but after the year I just had at 31, I know what my body’s like, what my mentality is and my work rate.
"I’m not going to dip too much, that’s just how I am."
Tedesco does not want to put a limit on what age he can play until, but believes falling out of both the NSW and Australia sides can prolong his career.
"The Origin period is very taxing mentally and physically. You’re backing up after games so it does take a toll on your body," Tedesco said.
"I felt this year I had those weeks off and I was playing some of my best footy. It definitely aligned there.
"People want to look at age but everyone’s different. You look at some of the older players in the game, (Daly) Cherry-Evans, Ben Hunt, they’re still going."
The Roosters do still harbour ambitions of landing the uncontracted Hunt to fill a gap in their halves, with Sam Walker out for the opening months.
Injured hooker Brandon Smith is also off contract at the end of 2025, and Hunt has played No.9 in the past at representative level.
But when it comes to succession planning for Tedesco, Robinson indicated that it was unlikely the club saw it as a short-term issue.
"I think Teddy will play for a few more years," Robinson said.
"There is no-one in their 20s (set to replace him), we've got a really young kid still at school who we think is a future in that position for us.
"We've signed him on that long-term deal, but that is four or five years away.
"There is no rush there with Teddy because we feel like he has more years left in him, and it would be nice to get a deal done soon to extend that."
