The man behind the coach: Behind the scenes with Sharks coach Craig Fitzgibbon and his influence at Cronulla
This is Sharks coach Craig Fitzgibbon like you’ve never seen him. In an exclusive look behind the curtain, DAVID RICCIO unpacks a side of the coach you don’t see on TV, revealing the leadership style that makes him so influential at Cronulla.
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The key to unlocking the real Craig Fitzgibbon is found at 30,000 feet, coiled into seat 43B on a United Airlines flight bound for Los Angeles.
The Sharks coach lowers his head beneath the overhead locker and contorts his 191cm frame into a position that resembles the Jiu Jitsu sweep techniques the 47-year-old has honed to perfection.
It’s here in economy, his bone-on-bone shoulders – scarred from four surgeries and 263 first-grade games, not counting Origins or Test matches – mark the Dapto junior’s spot for the 14-hour haul.
Closer to the tail of the plane than the nose, this is not where the NRL head coach was ticketed to sit for Cronulla’s long-haul flight from Sydney to the US ahead of a season-opening blockbuster with Penrith at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas.
Fitzgibbon had been given a seat in business class by the NRL, alongside his full playing roster heading to America.
But two days before takeoff, he summoned Cronulla’s sports scientist, Jess Adams, to his office. Fitzgibbon told Adams he had a gift for her recent hard work.
In that office, where a piece of real Shark skin sits on his desk as a permanent reminder to the toughness and grit of which the club stands for, the coach did something he asks of his players daily, and typifies the bond that is forming stronger by the hour among this Cronulla squad.
“What are you going to do for the team before yourself is something ‘Fitzy’ has taught us all,’’ Sharks winger Ronaldo Mulitalo says.
“Fitzy doing that for Jess, who we are so proud to have in our team, it literally made the boys stop and think if we should be giving up our seats too.
“And that’s the thing with Fitzy, he leads by example.
“By giving more of yourself, well, I’d like to think you can see how we’ve steadily progressed as a team.’’
As the plane drops into LAX, with The Daily Telegraph given an all-access pass to the Sharks historic trip to Las Vegas, unpacking the leadership style of the Sharks’ most influential figure is a story that few have been able to unlock, largely because Fitzgibbon cringes at every word written about him.
“Good luck,’’ Sharks assistant coach Daniel Holdsworth smiles.
The welling eyes of Sharks prop Braden Hamlin-Uele seems like a good place to start.
Walking along famous Venice Beach, the power forward is on the comeback trail in 2025 from a knee injury that plagued his 2024 season.
As he strolls the colourful promenade, Hamlin-Uele offers an insight into a coach that begins each day at 4.30am by driving from his home on the Illawarra coast to Shark Park.
“He’s a coach that coaches the person, then the athlete,’’ Hamlin-Uele said.
“He puts a lot of emphasis on us as people, then our families and then who we are at training.
“I haven’t had such raw conversations with a coach before and Fitzy has allowed me to do that.
“I’ve cried in Fitzy’s office. I’ve laughed in Fitzy’s office. I’ve been angry in Fitzy’s office.
“I’ve never been able to do that with a coach before and it creates a relationship and connection that we can have those raw conversations as player and coach and not allow the ego to get in the way.
“I’m sure I’m not the only player that can say that.’’
A Dally M coach of the year nominee in his first year (2022) of coaching in the NRL, Fitzgibbon has taken a developing roster devoid of representative stars to three straight finals series.
Many believe, with the addition of one of the world’s best prop’s in Addin Fonua-Blake, they can go all the way this season.
The Sharks trailed the Panthers 14-6 with 20-minutes remaining in last year’s preliminary final only to be left dismantled by another Nathan Cleary kicking class.
The loss stung Fitzgibbon, admitting up on stage at the club’s emotional Hall of Fame Gala a fortnight ago that he failed to consider last season as a success due to it finishing shy of a premiership.
A book called, Obstacles is the Way, written by Ryan Holiday, which looks at building a framework to turn obstacles into opportunities, has been read by several Sharks players after being encouraged to do so by their coach.
It’s why while walking towards Crypto Arena to watch his first ice hockey game between the LA Kings and Utah, club captain Cameron McInnes lifts his head and declares that in 25-years of playing rugby league, from his days as a Botany Rams junior to now more than 200 NRL games, he has never been challenged as much by any other coach – and equally, he’s never loved his football as much.
“His influence on the club speaks for itself,’’ McInnes said.
“I feel and all the boys feel the same that, as long as he’s the coach here, the team is going to be pushing for that main goal every single year.
“It doesn’t mean that you’re not going to have low points in a year where you lose games that you probably shouldn’t.
“But the way he and the staff work, he’s so quick to nip things in the bud and get things back on track.
“Which as a player, particularly a player of my age (31), is such a good feeling to know that coming into the season, you know that it’s on.
“In the last four years, he’s challenged me more than any coach ever has.
“I am quite regimented and I do things my own way, but he’s challenged me and taught me how to play as a team member as opposed to only doing your job.
“He’s challenged me in a way of looking at yourself and what are you doing for the team?
“If you give a bit of yourself for the betterment of the team, seeing young guys succeed, or doing something that helps everyone become better, it’s just so rewarding.’’
Inside the team meeting room on Level 11 of The Biltmore Hotel in Downtown LA, what is clear is that Fitzgibbon has not only fostered a connected team, but dedicated coaching staff.
His elite assistants in Steve Price, Josh Hannay and Holdsworth stand at the front of the room, viewed by the players as equally important co-drivers of a club that is on a mission to blend an attitude of selflessness with ferocious training standards.
The coaching trio’s efforts – along with Nicho Hynes – to save a man about to jump from a bridge near Wollongong last year is an example of the culture being met at the Sharks.
In LA, the players stop what they are doing to greet anyone they meet by shaking their hand, they can be found eating lunch together, playing cards or handball with banter behind every shot.
Rifts, division or cracks within a group are easy to find in a sporting team, a destabilising ingredient that can be easily identified, particularly by an outsider.
To increase the connection and trust within their team environment, anyone that arrives into the Sharks inner-sanctum is asked without warning to speak openly about their upbringing, family and current life journey.
As a result of being allowed into areas otherwise off limits, your columnist was asked to step forward during the Sharks preparation for Las Vegas, just as Fonua-Blake found himself doing late last year.
“I’m still a new kid in the team, but man I’ve gelled well with the boys,’’ Fonua-Blake said.
“That’s a credit to Fitzy and his staff in what they’ve created here. They train extremely hard, Fitzy has set a high standard.
“It takes time to settle fully into any group, but I haven’t felt that.
“These guys here have welcomed me with open arms, there’s no clicks here in the team, it’s just one big team.
“That goes along way to being a successful team.’’
As Fonua-Blake alluded, the Sharks training standards are held to account.
For example, anyone that arrives late for their physiotherapy appointment, recovery session or team meeting is sent home for the day.
See you later.
Like the intense nature and defensive focus that Fitzgibbon played the game as a champion backrower for the Roosters, so is the level of demand from the coach.
Fitzgibbon has a switch he can flick which is tangible. He can share a joke with his players one minute and yet just moments before boarding the bus for training at the University of Southern California, Fitzgibbon has the eyes of the entire room with his intensity and focus.
He offers depth to his straight-to-the-point message.
He offers key data up on a projection screen to better break down his reasoning and creates an atmosphere where his players are free to express their thoughts, as Hynes does before backrower Teig Wilton speaks up.
Sharks fans have at-times called for their coach to be more animated in press conferences, particularly after a loss.
Yet behind closed-doors, there is a stern nature to Fitzgibbon, which his players understand with just one simple look.
“To be honest, he’s a father figure to me,’’ Mulitalo said.
“He’s been immense for me as a man and as a player as well. He betters me every day.
“He’s a different style of coach. He doesn’t yell and scream at me. We talk and he’s like a disappointed father, when Dad gives you that look, I know I have to get it right.
“What he’s built alongside the board and management as far a stable club that wants success so bad, that’s why I re-signed here.’’
As the players conclude their final training session with a captain’s run at Allegiant Stadium before playing the Panthers, the entire team and staff of the Sharks huddle together.
The final message isn’t audible.
In this city of high stakes and gambling, there’s nothing more certain that the last word from Cronulla ended with a question.
What are you going to do for the team before yourself?
* The NRL has helped fund our team’s travel expenses to Las Vegas
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Originally published as The man behind the coach: Behind the scenes with Sharks coach Craig Fitzgibbon and his influence at Cronulla
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