Rye grass, whiskey bars, an ice skating rink and a cinema: Inside NSW’s Origin camp

Leura: Billionaire hotel owner Dr Jerry Schwartz has revealed a $250,000 investment to transform a “goat track” into Michael Maguire’s Origin field of dreams and handed over his hotel’s whiskey bar to the NSWRL to minimise distractions ahead of the series opener in Sydney next week.

After six years of training in full view of the public in Coogee, the NSW Blues traded boardies for beanies as they entered camp for a week of bonding in isolation at the Fairmont Resort, owned by Schwartz, in Leura.

“There was obviously a lot of other stuff going on [in Coogee],” back-rower Angus Crichton said of the Blues camp he previously experienced.

“Some of the boys had cars, and you could go home or people could go hang out in different groups. Whereas here everyone’s sort of thrown in the mix together and, I guess, forced to hang out with each other in a way. And I think it’s great. That’s what you want.

“You want people that might not usually be talking to people to be sitting at the table together, having a conversation or jumping in the minivan and going to a cafe in town. I’m really looking forward to that side of things and getting to know guys that I don’t know that well yet and building really good relationships and friendships.”

Nestled away in the Blue Mountains, surrounded by golf courses and nature reserves, the Blues will spend six days at the four-star resort away from distractions as they bunker down ahead of the opening game of the series on Wednesday.

The Fairmont Resort at the Blue Mountains, where the Blues will be based until Sunday.Credit: Wolter Peeters

The resort includes indoor and outdoor swimming pools, tennis and basketball courts, a sauna, the adjacent Leura Golf Club, an ice skating rink and walking and hiking tracks on the doorstep of the Blue Mountains National Park.

The hotel has also transformed its movie theatre into the NSW Blues’ own video room as they work out ways to overcome Queensland next week.

Training sessions have also been locked away, with media escorted out of the team’s training base at Blue Mountains Grammar School after warm-up as Maguire attempts to close the curtains on what has previously been an open camp under his predecessors Brad Fittler and Laurie Daley.

The other change is that players have their own rooms, with Maguire opting against ‘roomies’. Interconnecting rooms encourages the unity he so desperately seeks from his troops.

Fairmont Resort at the Blue Mountains has been transformed for NSW.Credit: Wolter Peeters

The 2014 premiership-winning coach has placed an emphasis on the players connecting during camp and has even called injured stars Nathan Cleary, Tom Trbojevic and Cameron Murray into camp to galvanise the team.

“I think Madge just wanted to try something different ... It’s a pretty ballsy move for him to try and do things his own way and I respect it,” Crichton said.

“I think so far it’s been great. It’s a different environment and we’ve got six debutants. There’s only a couple of guys that I hadn’t met before and [now I can] get to know them quite well.“

The Fairmont Resort have struck up a relationship with the nearby Blue Mountains Grammar School. It’s where the Blues will be training while staying in Leura.

The Blues training field at Blue Mountains Grammar School.Credit: Wolter Peeters

The school already had a soccer field and rugby league field on the grounds. The rugby league field had been earmarked months ago as the Blues’ preferred training facility, however, they later discovered that the drainage wasn’t sufficient and wouldn’t meet the standards required for the Blues.

The school then ripped out the soccer posts, replacing them with brand-new rugby league posts. Eight weeks ago the field looked like a “goat track” according to those who saw it.

Hotel staff, in conjunction with Blue Mountains Grammar School, outsourced the maintenance and ground works to Green by Nature, the company that looks after grounds like PointsBet Stadium, Brookvale Oval and Central Coast Stadium.

Nicho Hynes watches on at training as he nurses a calf complaint, while injured star Nathan Cleary arrives in camp to help the team’s preparations.Credit: Wolter Peeters

They sowed rye grass into the turf, working overtime on a surface that also includes a cricket pitch in the middle of the ground that was barely noticeable when the Blues arrived for their first training session on Wednesday morning.

Schwartz also told this masthead the facility has also invested another $250,000 in the purchasing and installation of gym equipment next to the Blues team room at the Fairmont in the hope they hope will also attract other sporting organisations to Leura. The gym was designed by the Blues’ high performance staff.

It’s been built adjacent to the team room tucked underneath the hotel lobby and away from the public. At night it’s guarded by security guards employed by the hotel to make sure there are no disturbances or issues for the players.

“When I was told that we could probably get the Blues to stay at the Fairmont exclusively in preparation for their three matches, I said ‘absolutely’,” Schwartz told the Herald.

The welcome sign at the Fairmont Resort.Credit: Wolter Peeters

“It’s obviously good for business to have buy-in from a football team. It brings attention to the hotel, but it also brings attention to the Blue Mountains.

“When you’re hosting a sporting team you need two things; lots of rooms to put them in and you need fields. The original intention was to build our own oval on the golf course nearby but we couldn’t get it done in time for 2024.”

“The application is now in with council to have it ready for next year. That’s going to cost up to $2 million just for the field with irrigation, drainage, soil levelling and making sure we have all the right slopes at certain ends of the field. We are now dependent on council to push through the application for next year.”

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