Roosters ace James Tedesco wins third Brad Fittler Medal

James Tedesco was crowned the Brad Fittler Medal winner on Monday night in what could be the start of a string of gongs for the Sydney Roosters and NSW Blues skipper.

A day after he was concussed as his Roosters were knocked out of the NRL title race, Tedesco picked up his third Brad Fittler Medal for being the Blues’ star player.

Tedesco also won the True Blue Award and People’s Choice Award, the first time a player has swept the trio of awards.

“It brightens the day up a bit, it was a weird feeling in the sheds [on Sunday], I was watching and helpless and couldn’t do much,” Tedesco said.

“But I’m proud and honoured to receive this award. It’s an award voted by your teammates, and you always want to be the guy everyone wants to play with.”

The gun No. 1 ran for an average 281m a game with an amazing 25 tackle busts during the 2-1 series defeat to Queensland.

Jack Wighton was close to NSW’s best in game one, and Nathan Cleary the standout in the second game in Perth, but Tedesco played a key role in all three Origins.

He also won the Brad Fittler Medal in 2018 and 2019. Tedesco followed the Roosters as a kid and Fittler was always his favourite player.

The Roosters’ Jack Gibson Medal, the RLPA Players’ award and Dally M are also a good chance of being added to Tedesco’s trophy cabinet.

His early departure from the Roosters’ game on Sunday went a long way towards helping bitter rivals South Sydney advance to the semi-finals.

Isabelle Kelly was named the Blues’ top women’s player, Newtown Jets centre Kayal Iro - the son of New Zealand international Kevin Iro and nephew of Tony Iro - was crowned the NSW Cup player of the year, while North Sydney’s Kirra Dibb was the women’s premiership player of the year.

Meanwhile, Dylan Edwards was crowned the Merv Cartwright Medal winner for being Penrith’s most outstanding player, while Joe Tapine picked up the Mal Meninga Medal in Canberra.

Stream the NRL Premiership 2022 live and free on 9Now.

Sports news, results and expert commentary. Sign up for our Sport newsletter.