From setting up flower stalls with his grandfather at 2am, to a £20 daily allowance and now his mantle as Australian captain and arguably the game’s best player.
James Tedesco has always worn his Italian heritage loud and proud, and his Azzurri influence will come full circle on Saturday (5.30am Sunday AEDT) when he leads the Kangaroos against the minnows he credits with launching his rugby league career.
Tedesco’s first World Cup almost a decade ago saw he and Italian teammates, including Anthony and Mark Minichiello and new Bulldogs coach Cameron Ciraldo, paid a £20 allowance during the 2013 tournament in England.
Tedesco played centre that tour having ruptured his ACL 25 minutes into his 2012 NRL debut for the Wests Tigers, “scratching around” and full of self-doubt when he returned the following season.
A broken kneecap, fractured jaw, ankle and shoulder operations followed in the next few years.
But two premierships, a Dally M medal, 19 Origins and a million-dollar deal laterm Tedesco still looks back on that initial Italian outing as his making.
“2012 I did my ACL and in 2013 I played 15 or 16 games for the Tigers but I was scratching around,” he says.
“2013 was massive for me. I’d played about 20 first grade games before that, I played in the centres and Mini was our fullback and our captain.
“I learnt a lot being around him and how he conducted himself on and off the field and at training.
“I got a lot of confidence at that World Cup. I played pretty well in the centres, came into 2014 and played some really good footy.
James Tedesco scores for Italy against Wales at the 2013 World Cup in Cardiff.Credit:Getty
“I had my injury concerns but after that I felt really good about my game. I’m very strongly connected with my Italian side and family on that side. It meant a lot to them.”
Tedesco’s friendship with Minichiello proved a key selling point in his move to the Roosters, while he is still in contact with a couple of the domestic Italian players he toured England with nine years ago.
Closer to home, Tedesco’s grandparents Carmela and Salvatore ensured the family’s Italian connections stayed strong after emigrating from the Calabrian port town of Villa San Giovanni in the early 1960s.
“Nonno [Salvatore] came over first and laid the pathway there and Nonna came over and it was sort of a set-up marriage between those two,” Tedesco says.
“Nonno had a farm out at Dural and grew flowers and went to the Sydney markets every weekend. My memories as a kid are going with him to the markets at two in the morning.
“That’s how it all started, I remember the flowers were Nonno’s life and he didn’t stop going to the markets until he was in his 80s.”
Salvatore died a few years ago, while Tedesco’s great-grandmother Teresa Papandrea also died earlier this year aged 102 having followed the fullback’s career with relish.
But Carmela is still going strong and will be tuning in during the wee hours, Tedesco’s own fortunes trumping any allegiance to an Italian side led by Parramatta’s Nathan Brown.
“She’ll be supporting me no matter what,” he says.
“I’m sure she’ll have a soft spot for Italy but as long as I do well and get through the game safe, that’s all she prays for.
“Back then in 2013, Nonna didn’t really know too much about footy. Me playing first grade and playing for Italy sparked her interest, she watches every show and every game now.
“She’s a bit hard to understand in her messages with her English but I get the message and I love her support.”
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