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Halfback Luke Keary says Joey Manu is excited to start at fullback this weekend with the Sydney Roosters losing James Tedesco to State of Origin duty.

Minimal carbs and maximum greens have been on the menu for makeshift Sydney Roosters fullback Joey Manu this week as he slims up a touch before facing Canberra on Sunday.

Or at least that's what halfback teammate Luke Keary says Manu told his teammates, with regular No.1 James Tedesco again unavailable after being named as NSW captain for State of Origin game one.

"Joey said...he's back on the salads for the week," Keary joked with reporters.

"He enjoys his chance, he obviously loves playing fullback. He's been looking forward to it for few weeks.

"Every time he's played fullback for us, he's probably been the best player on the field, so now we'll love seeing him play there and that'll be fun again this weekend."

Keary's endorsement is not overblown, with Manu averaging 244m running and six tackle busts to go with three tries in his three starts at fullback over the Origin period last season.

Another option at No.1 would be teen sensation Joseph Suaalii, who'll head back to the Roosters for the trip to Canberra after spending the week in NSW Origin camp.

Along with Tedesco, winger Daniel Tupou and prop Lindsey Collins will be missing for the Roosters, but Keary said there was plenty of cover.

"Suaalii would be putting his hand up (for fullback) too, he trains there a fair bit and he was training there at the start of the season when he was in the reserves side, so he could definitely do a job for us to," he said.

"Teddy's (at Origin) every year, Tups (Daniel Tupou) has been gone for a lot of the time too.

"Lindsey, we're actually pretty blessed this year, we've got a lot of young front-rowers - (Daniel Suluka-Fifita) and (Terrell) May ... nothing really changes for us. We've got the three gone and Suaalii's in camp, it's business as usual."