Manly Sea Eagles fullback Brett Stewart's healing words for Wests Tigers' James Tedesco James Tedesco makes a run for the Tigers. MANLY superstar Brett Stewart has emerged as the unlikely guiding light behind the resurrection of Tigers cub James Tedesco. Stewart was one of the first players to offer Tedesco support just over a year ago, when the Australian Schoolboy suffered a devastating ACL tear on debut. The pair have remained in touch ever since and fittingly came face-to-face when Tedesco made his long-awaited NRL return against the Sea Eagles in Gosford last week. Stewart, whose career was threatened after back-to-back knee surgery in 2008 and 2009, wasted no time welcoming his young rival back. He got me on one of the first tackles I took and said, 'G'day mate, how's the knee?' Tedesco said. I looked up and saw him and was kind of starstruck. We also spoke after the game and he wanted to know how everything was going. He watched me in NSW Cup on television the week before and said I looked good. To get advice from someone like Brett Stewart gives you a lot of confidence. Tedesco is far more confident ahead of tonight's clash against premiers Melbourne at AAMI Park than he was a week ago. Tigers coach Mick Potter only gave him 24 hours to prepare, after winning a "catch-off" against veteran flanker Matt Utai on the eve of the match. Having not played wing since SG Ball, Tedesco was apprehensive about shifting from fullback. "I only found out the day before and I was a bit nervous going into it," he said. I tried to stay calm like when I made my debut last year, and I was confident that my knee was 100 per cent. I was probably most nervous about playing on the wing - that was a bit different for me. I hadn't played there since the juniors but I've had longer to prepare this week and feel better about this game. After watching last week's game from their lounge room, Tedesco's parents John and Rosmarie travelled to Melbourne with bated breath. "The last time we went to watch him play first grade, he got badly injured, so we thought we'd stay at home last week," John said. He handled it really well. He's just got this determination to make it through things. Even when he first did the injury and we drove him home from the game, he didn't get too down. Getting messages and advice from people like Brett Stewart was also a huge encouragement. Tedesco also contacted Stewart late last year, when his reconstructed knee was struggling to cope with the demands of pre-season. The 20-year-old was forced to undergo a second round of surgery to clean-out his meniscus. "People were telling me all sorts of different things about what I should do," Tedesco said. Brett had similar injuries to mine, so I messaged him for advice. He made my choice a bit easier. I decided to get everything cleaned out and it hindered my pre-season for a few weeks. In 10 visits to Melbourne since 2000, the Tigers have come away with one victory - a 10-6 win over an Origin-depleted Storm last year.