Dragons fullback Tyrell Sloan received praise and encouragement from his idol James Tedesco after sparking a second half comeback in the ANZAC Day clash with Sydney Roosters.
Sloan, 20, told Tedesco after the 27-26 loss at Allianz Stadium that he looked up to him and was keen for advice about ways he could improve his game.
“He is one of my idols,” Sloan told pan66.com. “He has been around for a long time - from the Wests Tigers days to the Roosters - and he is the NSW and Australian fullback.
“I watch his work week in and week out and, I guess, to come up against someone like Teddy, you sort of learn as you play, and I get a bit starstruck too.
He is the best in the world, so it was a privilege to come up against him.
“I just noticed the little things with Teddy; he is always on the ball, he is always in position, and he is really fit, as well, so he has got all the things a great fullback needs.
“He just tipped me up and said I am playing well, and to keep working on my game. He is the Australian captain, so I have massive respect for him and what he has done in the game, and obviously continues to do.”
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The ANZAC Day clash at Allianz Stadium was just Sloan’s 20th NRL appearance and the rookie continues to impress with his defence, as well as attack, after cementing the Dragons No.1 jersey this season.
Sloan scored a stunning second half try, laid on another, had a hand in a third and saved one as the Red V drew level at 26-26 before Roosters halfback Luke Keary sunk them with a 74th minute field goal.
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“He came up after the game and said he looked up to me,” Tedesco said of Sloan. “I thought he had a great game and especially in the second half, he really took the game on and had some good touches.
“He is fast, but I think people probably underestimate how strong he is. He got them back in the game with some of his touches and I just said to him that he has gotten better and better.
"He has improved out of sight and he is a young kid with a lot of talent so I just told him to keep working hard."
The 40,191 crowd was the biggest Sloan had played in front of and he revealed how coach Anthony Griffin had invited members of the club’s 2010 premiership winning team into camp ahead of the ANZAC Day fixture.
“We spoke about the day and how it’s bigger than all of us, it’s bigger than rugby league and we wanted show our teamwork the way the ANZACs used to do it, when they were fighting to give us the world we live in today,” Sloan said.
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“That was the message throughout the week, and we had guys like Michael Weyman and Beau Scott come in and tell us how important it was to them when they were playing. It lifted us having those guys in camp.
“The theme was ‘don’t let your team-mate down and keep turning up’. I feel like we did that and we put ourselves in a good position to win the game but we just couldn’t finish it off.”