State of Origin 2023: How will the Brad Fittler era be remembered?
Wednesday’s State of Origin game three could be the last time NSW coach Brad Fittler takes the reins for the Blues. We look back at the six stages of the state’s current Origin coach.
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Brad Fittler will lead NSW into battle on Wednesday night for potentially the last time as Blues coach. Once the series is over, NSW officials will sit down and decide whether to extend his contract or move in another direction.
Fittler started off his Origin coaching career in a blaze of glory but times have been tough since. This is a look back at the past six series and how the Fittler era will be remembered.
FREEWHEELING FREDDIE
A breath of fresh air swept through Coogee in 2018. Brad Fittler waltzed into the NSW job to replace Laurie Daley and the rugby league world dramatically changed.
Fittler was happy to swim against the stream. Coaches can be a paranoid bunch, desperate to cocoon their players from the media and eliminate the outside noise.
Fittler was the opposite. A consummate media performer himself, he threw training sessions open to the media. It was open slather, do your best.
The adage was that if a player couldn’t handle an interview the day before the game, how could he handle the white-hot furnace of State of Origin.
Fittler had his players remove their shoes and walk around soaking up the earth’s minerals. He brought in breathing experts and inspirational speakers.
He was fresh and unfiltered. He urged his players to be the same, cognisant of the need to drum up interest and sell tickets in a NSW side that had lost touch with its constituents and its fans.
The supporters lapped it up. So did the players and they kicked off the Fittler era with an emphatic series win.
FEARLESS FREDDIE
Fittler got off to a flyer in 2018 but he lost the opening game of the 2019 series and for the first time, he showed a ruthless streak as he took a machete to his side.
The biggest casualty was Latrell Mitchell, who was sacked after the Blues were beaten in the opening game of the series. It was also the first sign of the cracks that would later break wide open as Fittler began to lose more regularly.
Mitchell was given the news of his axing by Blues captain Boyd Cordner. It went down like a lead balloon and prompted Fittler to accuse the media of attempting to drive a wedge between he and Mitchell.
Sound familiar? Cody Walker and Angus Crichton were also among those who were dumped. Fittler’s axe-wielding had the desired effect.
The Blues bounced back to win the final two games of the series thanks in large parts to the brilliance of Tom Trbojevic, who turned it on at Optus Stadium in Perth along with Josh Addo-Carr.
They clinched the series in Sydney and Fittler was two from two, his appointment looking like a masterstroke.
FLAILING FREDDIE
The 2020 series was the first signs of chinks in the Fittler armour. Queensland were there for the taking. Some cruelly dubbed it the worst team in Maroons history.
Then again, it had a legend at the helm. Few coaches know Origin as well as seven-time premiership winner Wayne Bennett and he went into battle with a spare-parts side that featured the likes of Brenko and Edrick Lee, along with Corey Allan.
Any other year they barely rated a mention for Origin. But this was a year unlike any other, the season lucky to go ahead thanks to the impact of Covid.
By year’s end, Fittler probably wished it hadn’t. He was out-coached by Bennett and came under fire for allowing captain Boyd Cordner to return to the field after a head knock in the opening game. A couple of days later he withdrew from the remainder of the series.
The Blues were left licking their wounds heading into 2021. Time for a rethink.
FIRED-UP FREDDIE
The 2021 series was a landmark one for NSW. All three games were played in Queensland and the Blues were fired to victory by Mitchell and Trbojevic, paired in the centres in a coaching masterstroke by Fittler.
The Blues were untouchable with Jarome Luai and Nathan Cleary in the halves. They stormed to victory in Townsville, Brisbane and then lost a nail-biter on the Gold Coast.
This was the high point of Fittler’s tenure. The series when he took some chances and it all came together in one glorious blue tsunami of tries.
Queensland were the team that couldn’t get it right, their series encapsulated by the selection of Ronaldo Mulitalo, only to have him ruled out on match eve when it emerged he didn’t qualify for the Maroons under the eligibility guidelines.
Fittler was hailed as a genius and there was talk about him surpassing Phil Gould as the most successful Blues coach of all time.
It was a lofty prediction but it didn’t seem far fetched. At least not at the time. Fittler had challenged his side to make history.
They did just that. It was as good as it got.
FALLING FREDDIE
The Blues went into the 2022 series on the crest of a wave but they were undone by injuries and the arrival of Billy Slater as Maroons coach.
Fittler was robbed of access to Mitchell and Trbojevic for the entire series due to injury. When the Blues lost the series opener, speculation began to emerge about Fittler’s place at the helm of NSW.
It only got more intense as NSW succumbed in game three of the series. Fittler was under fire over his selections, in particular the decision to overlook Jack Wighton for Origin III after a positive Covid test kept him out of the side for the second game of the series.
Fans also questioned the wisdom of picking Sifa Talakai, a decision that backfired badly. Fittler overlooked Jake Trbojevic for game one, axed Reagan Campbell-Gillard after the opening game and ignored Josh Addo-Carr altogether.
They were selection decisions that would haunt him for the next 12 months and provide ammunition for Fittler’s critics heading into 2023.
WARY FREDDIE
After adopting an open-door policy when he walked into the Origin job, Fittler closed ranks heading into 2023 as he fought for his future as head coach.
His contract was due to expire at the end of the series and Fittler needed a win to guarantee a new deal. Open media sessions were gone, Fittler blaming the negativity from the NSW critics in recent seasons.
It had been draining on the players, he said. No doubt, it was draining on Fittler as well. There was a sense of defiance as the series kicked off but it quickly gave way to a sense of deflation as Slater inspired another Queensland series win.
After losing the opening two games of the series, Fittler wielded the axe again heading into Wednesday night’s Origin III at Accor Stadium.
The series won’t be on the line, but there is lots to lose nonetheless. Fittler, in particular, still believes he is the man for the job.
Now he needs to prove it.
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