State of Origin 2020: Why Brad Fittler is the man Boyd Cordner can trust most in his time of need
Brad Fittler and Boyd Cordner are bound by more than a decade of trust and honesty – two traits, never more needed than now.
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Brad Fittler stood up inside a private room of the Pullman Hotel last Tuesday night holding the jersey of NSW captain Boyd Cordner.
What happened next surprised even Fittler’s closest mates.
This story suddenly now has more meaning than ever.
At a time of mass concern throughout the game over Cordner’s spate of head knocks, there emerges a moment of raw insight into a relationship between two men who are bound by more than a decade of trust and honesty — two traits never more needed than now.
Inside the Sydney Olympic Park hotel were every NSW player about to face Queensland the following night in Adelaide as well as members of the Blues coaching staff.
Fittler had organised key staff to present certain players with their Origin I jerseys — with some players also given the honour of presenting a Blues jumper to their own teammate.
Former NSW half and current Blues adviser Greg Alexander presented five-eighth Luke Keary his debut jersey.
Assistant coach and champion backrower Craig Fitzgibbon smiled as he passed rugged forward Cameron Murray his jumper.
Assistant coach Danny Buderus kept the Newcastle connection strong by handing Knights prop Daniel Saifiti his jersey and Blues head of high performance Hayden Knowles gave a stirring speech about the boy he has watched grow out at Penrith, Nathan Cleary.
Then Fittler stood.
Not a single person in that room stood half a chance of handing Cordner his 16th NSW Origin jumper.
The same as how my colleague Brent Read never stood a chance of an elaborate answer from Fittler in the post-match press conference in Adelaide.
Read asked the coach if he thought of overruling the decision to allow Cordner to return to the field after passing a medical HIA on Wednesday night.
“I’m a coach, there’s protocols and we follow the protocols,’’ Fittler rifled back.
Read — and the rest of us in the presser — heard Fittler loud and clear.
Nothing gets between Fittler and Cordner.
It’s no stretch to suggest Fittler’s bond with Cordner is like a brother or son, which is why the latest uncertainty over Cordner’s playing future cuts the pair so deep.
It hurts Cordner to talk about it, so Fittler quickly moves the line of questioning on for his captain.
Fittler was the first person in the NRL to show faith in the boy from Taree.
At the age of 16, Cordner gained his first taste of NRL by being called up by Fittler to play in a Roosters first-grade trial match on a Saturday afternoon at Campbelltown in March 2009.
“I walked into those sheds and as soon as I saw everyone, I thought; ‘Oh (expletive) … what’s going on?’,” is how Cordner remembers that day.
“I was 16. There were all these men, NRL stars like Braith (Anasta), (Mark) O’Meley, Willie Mason … I’d spent the school holidays pretending to be them in backyard with my mates back at school.’’
What Fittler saw was a young man who was always going to make it.
“You could just see it in his eyes, even as a 15-, 16-year-old,” Fittler once told me.
“There was no fear in his eyes. Never.”
Roosters chairman Nick Politis saw this too when Cordner was 16.
The Roosters Godfather didn’t meet Cordner’s father Chris over a seafood lunch — they met for the first time at a hospital where they leaned over the teenager who was recuperating from a broken jaw.
Cordner has been smashing his body into the opposition without “fear in his eyes” ever since.
For a decade, Cordner has played well above his 102kg playing weight.
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And for the past three years in particular, the Roosters have been on full tilt, playing at a level of celebrated excellence that undoubtedly has taken its toll not only on Cordner, but other elite Roosters including James Tedesco and Luke Keary, who are playing now heavy-legged and battered.
So Fittler stood up and told the room much of what is here, how their captain was as resilient, as tough, as strong a leader as any player to wear the Blues jumper.
Then Fittler stopped. He coughed, clearing the lump.
Few have seen Fittler cry. With tears welling in his eyes, the normally cool and quirky Fittler, who loves to chat about couch grass and his despise for social media, was overcome by emotion few have ever seen as he handed Cordner his jersey.
They embraced.
On Friday, at a time when Cordner needed someone he can trust and who will be honest with him, Fittler was always going to the one the Blues skipper turned to.