‘I don’t think he did anything wrong’: Sivo receives shock support as Roosters reveal Tedesco replacement

Eels coach Brad Arthur says Maika Sivo did “nothing wrong” after the winger was placed on report for a high shot that concussed James Tedesco and ruled the Roosters skipper out of next week’s must win game against the Wests Tigers.

Tedesco was forced from the field with 20 minutes to go in Friday’s 34-12 win over Parramatta after Sivo jammed in off his wing and caught him high.

It was initially deemed to be a category two head knock but the independent bunker quickly upgraded it to a category one which means the NSW and Australia captain has automatically been ruled out under the NRL’s mandatory 11-day stand down period for concussed players.

Tedesco has a history of head knocks but was in good spirits after the game, telling teammates that he could remember key moments on a night he scored two tries and set up two more to keep his side’s finals hopes alive.

Losing Tedesco at this stage of the year is a hammer blow for the Roosters, but coach Trent Robinson doesn’t think Sivo is to blame given the fullback was falling before he made contact.

“I don’t see any real issue with that,” he said.

“I didn’t think Maika could have done much differently on that.

“We don’t want to be hit high, and James had to come off, but I looked at it and thought if that was one of my guys trying to make that tackle then it would have been really hard to adjust.”

This was Sivo’s first game back after the Fijian winger copped a four-match ban for a high shot against the Titans when he also came in to shut down an attacking raid.

Wingers have been warned several times by the NRL this season about the dangers of jamming in, and Arthur said Sivo had taken that advice on board while he was out.

“I hope James is okay, but what more can he (Sivo) do? His hands are down beside him and James’ head falls into his arm,” Arthur said.

“He’s worked really hard on trying to get that part of it right and you can see he’s a little bit gun shy with it because he’s worried about it.

“I don’t think he did anything wrong.

“I’m not taking away from James because he had contact with his head, but what’s he supposed to do there? He got tripped over into him.”

Robinson rarely gives away team news before Tuesday’s official squads are released, but he confirmed that Golden Boot winner Joseph Manu would play fullback even though Tedesco seemed to be okay after the game.

“He was concussed and then he was really good (after the game). Sort of 20 minutes after the game he was like ‘I’m better’ and he remembered all the tries and everything about the day, so that’s really positive,” he said.

“But is that enough to play next week? I wouldn’t think so.

“It’s pretty critical for us, but you’ve got to treat the guy’s health first.”

Many people would say that fullback is Manu’s best position having already played there three times this season, but the New Zealand star’s focus is on making sure his skipper is okay after he staggered from the field on Friday.

“It’s definitely tough,” Manu said after the game.

“Sometimes you can’t control those things, but to see Teddy like that is not a good sight.

“Losing him during the game (was hard) because I thought he was up there as one of our best on the field.

“I’m just wishing him well and hopefully he recovers quickly.

“Any opportunity I get to play there, I just want to do my best and play that Roosters style, bring my own style and play tough.

“It’s always exciting (to play fullback).

“It’s a different challenge and I always enjoy new challenges.”

There could be some good news for the Roosters next week with veteran front-rower Jared Waerea-Hargreaves expected to return after missing the Eels game with neck soreness.

“I’d like to think that’ll settle down enough for him to play next week,” Robinson said.

“That would be ideal.”