Paul Crawley: Why the suggestion that Brad Fittler was treated poorly by the Blues is a joke

It was Brad Fittler’s call to accept a new contract as Blues coach, and the fact he was offered chance to continue in the job despite losing three of the past four series was a show of undeniable loyalty, writes PAUL CRAWLEY.

SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA - JULY 11: Blues coach, Brad Fittler speaks to the media during the New South Wales Blues State of Origin captain's run at NSWRL Centre of Excellence on July 11, 2023 in Sydney, Australia. (Photo by Brendon Thorne/Getty Images)

Brad Fittler was a great ambassador for NSW. But he was not the coach to take the Blues forward.

And any suggestion that the Blues board has somehow done the dirty on Freddy by only offering him a five-month contract as opposed to the multi-year deal to Michael Maguire is absolute garbage.

On the contrary, the fact the Blues even offered Fittler the chance to continue in the job for next year despite losing three of the past four series was a show of their undeniable loyalty.

Some might even call it blind loyalty given what we’ve all seen in recent years.

But regardless, how any of Fittler’s supporters could now view it as a slap in the face and suggest that Fittler is entitled to be furious is just outrageous.

NSW Rugby League chairman Paul Conlon said in an interview with this masthead over the weekend that the decision to switch from a full-time to part-time role “was never intended to be a slight on Freddy”.

The NSWRL say they were not intending to offend Brad Fittler with their deal. Picture: Brendon Thorne/Getty Images

“It was the feeling of the board that it would be better for the role to go back to it being a part time position from March to July,” Conlon said.

“We fully expect that in the future anyone involved as a coach or assistant coach will most likely be involved in other positions for the remainder of the year.’’

Yet it was Fittler’s call not to accept the offer.

That in turn left the Blues with no alternative but to go and find a new coach.

Maguire was the man they landed on after it emerged Ricky Stuart would not be available.

Whether it turns out to be the right or wrong call down the track, we will wait and see.

Maguire has certainly surrounded himself with a formidable team with the likes of John Cartwright, Brett White and Matt King on his coaching team, while the appointment of respected Melbourne Storm football manager Frank Ponissi as the performance manager could prove a masterstroke.

But how anyone can ignore that bringing in a new coach on a multi-year deal is a completely different scenario to the short-term contract offered to Fittler defies belief.

Surely they can see that Maguire deserves time to put his own systems and plans in place, as Fittler himself had been afforded over the last six years.

No one ever disputed that Fittler had not been a wonderful servant for the Blues throughout his entire playing and coaching career, and for that he deserves the ongoing respect for everything he has done.

Michael Maguire signed a multi-year contract as coach.

Yet there is no way in the world the Blues could have offered Fittler a similar deal to what has been offered to Maguire after how things panned out in recent series.

We even ran a fan poll following the Blues’ game three victory this year and, despite saving the embarrassment of a series clean sweep to Queensland, 67 per cent of the 2700-plus votes were still of the view it was time to go in a new direction.

There is just no ignoring some of the critical mistakes Fittler made throughout his tenure.

At the top of the list were so many questionable selections, as well as the constant swapping and changing.

Think Cody Walker, Nicho Hynes and Damien Cook to name just a few.

How Tevita Pangai even got selected this year on his form for the Bulldogs will go down as one of Origin’s greatest mysteries.

Then you look back at the treatment of players like Stefano Utoikamanu and Hudson Young, who were called up and then thrown under the bus.

You could go on and on.

There is no question Fittler was forced to deal with some injury setbacks along the way.

But so did Queensland.

At the end of the day Origin coaching, as is the case in the NRL, is a results driven business.

Freddy had more than a fair chance to get it right.

The offer of coaching another series was not an insult.

To suggest otherwise is ignoring the reality of professional sport.