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Champion fullback James Tedesco senses the Sydney Roosters have turned the corner in their pursuit of a historic NRL premiership hat-trick.
Penrith are all the rage, but James Tedesco has warned the Sydney Roosters' rivals not to forget the back-to-back NRL premiers.
Tedesco is convinced good times are ahead as the Roosters slowly emerge from the club's biggest injury crisis in years with their position in all-important top four somehow still intact.
Forward enforcer Jared Waerea-Hargreaves and tryscoring whiz Brett Morris both made successful comebacks in the Roosters' 38-16 demolition of Wests Tigers on Saturday night, with further key reinforcements to return in coming weeks.
And when the rest of cavalry does arrive, including inspirational co-captain Body Cordner, chief playmaker Luke Keary and representative winger Daniel Tupou, Tedesco believes it could be a case of look out for premiers' challengers.
In a perverse way, he suspects the crippling mid-season injury toll may work in the Roosters' favour, allowing many stars to freshen up ahead of another intense finals series.
"Having a lot of guys still to come back, I think our best footy is still ahead of us," the champion fullback said.
"We've got Sonny (Bill Williams) coming in as well so we're going to have a lot of boosts coming before the end of the year and that's the time you want to be playing your best footy, going into the finals.
"I think we're going to get better and better having those guys coming back and they'll be fresh and ready to go until the end of the year.
"So that's exciting."
Coach Trent Robinson is still demanding more ruthlessness and wasn't happy to see his side concede the final try at Leichhardt Oval.
But Tedesco was otherwise delighted to see the Roosters' attack finally click after several weeks of lacking polish.
"It was really enjoyable for us as a team, just to get back into that rhythm. We haven't had that for the past month and I thought it really flowed," he said.
"We had a few boys back. Obviously Jared and 'B-Moz' were awesome.
"It's exciting times ahead."
Tedesco is also enjoying his new role lurking in the front line as a playmaker.
"Not having 'Rads' (Victor Radley) there, losing him, he was our ball-playing middle so I'm just trying to find that link with the middles," he said.
"Just trying to step up whenever there's a quick wrap and trying to make sure we have our best combination with our middles.
"It's been continually getting better every single week and I'm just trying to get our forwards moving onto the ball and, whenever there's a quick play, I'm trying to get us on a roll on."
The Roosters face Brisbane, Canberra, Newcastle, Cronulla and South Sydney - not the easiest of runs to the finals - with the round-17 grand final rematch with the Raiders in the national capital potentially pivotal in the top-four battle.
