Brad Fittler had every right to boycott the medal night named in his honour on Monday, but he took any potential heat out of the situation by showing typical class.
In a year where the Blues scored one of their greatest State of Origin series wins, the team deserved to be celebrated, particularly for the job that coach Michael Maguire did.
Fittler is not the type to hijack that kind of moment; he has way too much class and respect for what the NSW team did.
That said, he certainly wasn’t highly visible on the night. He made a brief appearance to present Blues back-rower Angus Crichton with the highest honour a NSW player can receive, the Brad Fittler Medal.
The Blues clearly weren’t certain he was attending, because Fittler wasn’t mentioned in the speech welcoming dignitaries.
The humility Fittler showed has not been fully appreciated.
Forgotten in this year’s glory was the shabby way he was treated by the Blues at the end of his tenure as coach. With a 50 per cent winning record in a brutal contest, Fittler was told that to keep his position, he would need to overhaul his staff and bring in new people.
Brad Fittler presents the medal named after him to Angus Crichton.Credit: NRL Photos
He did that at great personal expense. Some decisions he had to make to satisfy the board would have cost him friendships he had built up over many years in the game. That has never been properly documented or fully appreciated. Fittler was told if that was done the job was his.
No conditions other than that would be applied – at least that was the understanding. In the end, despite assembling a quality coaching team, which included Blues greats Laurie Daley and Phil Gould, Fittler was told the job would only be a five-month appointment. That did not sit well with a man who has Blues development in his heart.
None of this is criticism of Maguire, who did a magnificent job resurrecting NSW after they went down 1-0 in the series following Joseph Suaalii’s send-off in Sydney. His coaching achievement deserves every bit of acknowledgement. It’s just that the Blues can get it so wrong sometimes when it comes to honouring and acknowledging former greats, including someone like Fittler.
He knew that if he didn’t show up to present the medal on Monday, the media coverage would have been all about him. He did his job, despite everything he has been through.
Fittler’s work with the Blues as coach and in the community deserve acknowledgement.
Roosters rally around Cheese
The Roosters are closely watching Brandon Smith after concerns about his mental health were laid bare by the player himself.
The Roosters have appointed a “mentor” to help him through every challenge he is facing — some of which have been magnified by the horrible knee injury he suffered against the Raiders last Sunday.
This care for Smith is significant because he still faces an uncertain future at the Roosters as he is open to offers from rival clubs from November 1. If he leaves the club, they want him to be in a better mental and, hopefully, financial position than when he signed.
Brandon Smith is assisted from the field after suffering season-ending knee injuries last Sunday.Credit: Getty Images
Smith stopped me in my tracks on Monday when I was talking to him outside a medical facility where he had just learnt the full extent of his injury. Smith was on crutches, reflecting on the past 24 hours when he brought up his mental health.
With anterior cruciate ligament and medial collateral ligament injuries to deal with, I expected him to want to talk about the physical challenge he was facing. Smith, unprompted, went straight to the mental battle he would face, which to me was raw and concerning.
Smith has not been in a great place at times recently and faces significant challenges away from football. He is acting on those issues and is making significant progress.
The mental side of an injury can be overlooked when casting judgment on players’ lives, particularly when they seem unflappable and resilient, as Smith does. But the man who often takes on the role of “class clown” has a darker side the Roosters are well aware of and are working on with him.
Smith has not always liked things I’ve written about him, particularly on his exit from Melbourne, but from this point on it would be good to support him.
He is a person worth giving time to and acknowledging that he is doing the work to become a better person for himself and everyone else in his close circle.
I wish him all the best as he navigates the next nine months or so as he gets back on the field.
If you or someone you know is struggling, please seek help from a mental health professional or contact Lifeline on 13 11 14.
Mark of great club
If you want to know why players are full of praise for the culture of the Sydney Roosters, take this as a good example of what the club does that usually goes unnoticed.
New recruit Mark Nawaqanitawase sadly lost his stepfather recently. It devastated him.
Aware of this, the Roosters made sure veteran and leader Jared Waerea-Hargreaves attended the funeral, along with a number of other Roosters representatives.
At his darkest time, Nawaqanitawase was able to feel the love of his new club. He was shocked the Roosters took such a strong interest in his life away from football in the early days of his time with the club.
Sidelined eye?
We broke the news of Candice Warner’s new role as a sideline commentator for Fox Sports some weeks back. At the same time we revealed that there were people who were very unhappy with the decision due to her sudden appointment as a sideline eye.
The feeling was she was given a rails run, and that put some of the other Fox experts offside. Now Warner has mysteriously disappeared from the roster of commentators. Warner is a media talent, but Fox must have decided her skills should be used elsewhere.
It’s a tough gig on the sideline, where news sense is a prerequisite, as is the ability to ask questions in media conferences that are attended by fewer and fewer media representatives. Warner was thrown in the deep end, and you can be sure some of her Fox colleagues were happy she didn’t float.
To his credit, Fox host Braith Anasta was supportive of Warner in her attempts to make it as a sideline eye.
Fox bosses clearly received feedback from her fellow workers, and her disappearance is both an indication of the cruel nature of the business and a reflection of how hard the job is.
Warner does a great job on panel shows and radio programs. There was a thought that she should be groomed for a studio role. It remains to be seen whether that will happen after the end of her sideline days.
Fox also has an abundance of talented female hosts, headed by Yvonne Sampson and Lara Pitt. Perhaps Warner could be guided by them if she still has a desire to make it in the rough and tumble world of NRL broadcasting.
Pleasure and Wayne
Those criticising Wayne Bennett for taking his eye off the ball at the Dolphins as his move the South Sydney looms have been awfully quiet after he masterminded an ambush win over the Broncos with his team’s season on the line.
Bennett has been condemned in certain quarters for having his focus on the Rabbitohs, but that win showed exactly where his focus was. He did it by picking a side that had a number of dramatic changes and keeping it hidden from the Brisbane media.
Wayne Bennett and Sean O’Sullivan celebrate the Dolphins’ big win against the Broncos.Credit: NRL Photos
Bennett played a huge role in the preparation and his motivation was based around showing the Dolphins team how the Broncos had dominated them in recent years and asking them simply what they were going to do about it.
He also referred to the backs-to-the-wall Queensland Origin series win he masterminded during COVID when no one gave a weak Maroons side a chance.
Regardless of the result against the Knights on Sunday, Bennett has shown his mind has been on the Dolphins and prove his critics wrong. Again.
Mitch’s Roo colours
Blues and Eels halfback Mitchell Moses is on track to be fit for selection in Mal Meninga’s Kangaroo side for the end-of-season Pacific Championships.
Moses had a breakout State of Origin series and if a team was selected on form from that three-game battle, he would have been the Australian halfback, even ahead of the highly respected Daly Cherry-Evans. There is no question Moses was the best half in the series, and, if eligible, Jarome Luai would have been his partner in the green and gold.
Mitchell Moses scores for the Blues.Credit: Getty Images
Instead, Moses was injured in the dying stages of his greatest night as a player, where he scored a try that his idol Andrew Johns would love to have scored.
All of that has been noticed by Meninga, who knows that first-choice halfback Nathan Cleary is looking at shoulder surgery once the Panthers – or his – campaign is over.
Moses will be pushing Cherry-Evans all the way for the halfback position, but with Cameron Munster also facing double hip surgery at the end of the season to relieve pressure on his troublesome groin, the opportunity is there for Moses and DCE to combine in the halves for Australia.
Moses has told those close to him that he is fit and ready to go, and playing for his country after destroying Queensland for his state would make it his greatest year as a player.
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