Roosters win as Radley suffers another head knock
James Tedesco has inspired a 12-8 defeat of Newcastle, but his Sydney Roosters have cause for concern after Victor Radley suffered the latest in a long list of head knocks.
Hard-nosed forward Radley suffered his second game-ending head knock of the season attempting to tackle Fletcher Hunt in Saturday night's win in Newcastle.
Radley has one of the most extensive concussion histories in the NRL, estimated to have gone down with seven game-ending head knocks in the past four seasons.
He will miss at least next week's clash against North Queensland, but the Roosters have traditionally taken a conservative approach to players with a track record of concussions.
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Errors meant the Roosters struggled for any kind of ascendancy in the first half, trailing 6-0 after Newcastle's Jack Cogger put Kyle McCarthy over on the back of a Dylan Lucas break.
But Tedesco stepped up in the second half and proved the difference between the two sides, missing a combined total of 17 players to injury, suspension and State of Origin duties.
At the 50-metre line, Tedesco broke through Kai Pearce-Paul and Jackson Hastings - playing his first game of the year - and reached around to find Salesi Foketi.
The up-and-coming forward grabbed Tedesco's one-handed offload and tore past Hunt and through James Schiller's tackle to score his first NRL try.
The try came the set after right winger Schiller went within inches of giving the Knights a three-score lead, only to drop the ball over the try-line.
A profane chant rang out from the Knights' home crowd after the Roosters' ultimately game-winning try, again set up by Tedesco.
The fullback put a grubber kick through the line and Siua Wong was ruled to have grounded the ball with his forearm.
Dom Young was seen embracing Roosters teammates at full-time of what was likely to be his final game for the club.
Right winger Young looked likeliest for the Roosters in the first half and is set to rejoin the Knights mid-season, possibly in time to face the Dolphins next week.
Out-of-favour Hastings was solid without having any moments of brilliance playing five-eighth in his first game for the injury-stricken Knights since July last year.
He looked particularly dangerous linking with Pearce-Paul on the right side.
But Hastings found himself caught with the ball on the fifth tackle inside the red zone in the second half, one of many times the Knights failed to capitalise on their many chances.
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