Brad Fittler reveals why he will ignore calls for Cordner's head
Finally — finally! — NSW coach Brad Fittler has confirmed a player who will be in his starting side for the State of Origin opener against Queensland at the MCG.
Look away now, Phil Gould, who earlier this week said he wouldn’t be picking captain Boyd Cordner because his “football has stagnated over the last two or three years”.
“Boyd will be in the team,” Fittler revealed. “If you’re going to pen in anyone at the moment, barring injury, it would be Boyd Cordner. Obviously Gus and I have a great relationship. He does things in different ways, and he knows the way I am thinking. He would be wanting Boyd to be at his best. If he thought Boyd had another gear, he’s just given him a prod. If anyone’s penned in, it’s Boyd.”
Fittler made these remarks in a pre-recorded interview with this column, as well as colleagues Brent Read and David Riccio, to be aired on Thursday night’s The Footy Show. We covered a range of issues, from his likely selections to the culture of what will be a very different NSW side.
He insisted he hasn’t been prompting Gould — and others — to use the media to fire up players before the side is announced at the True Blues function at The Star on Monday night.
“I have told you before that I am not that clever,” Fittler laughed. “If I tried to be that clever, it would just roast me. I don’t have that in me. I have to be honest because I don’t have that in my bones to be able to manipulate people. I get out there and have my heart on my sleeve.
“But I have been talking to Gus a lot, listening to what he’s been saying and trying to work that out. I don’t know if you have to be a psychologist or a mathematician to do that! But I feel like his heart is in it this year and he’s a supporter.”
Fittler did make it clear, though, that the top-of-the-table match between St George Illawarra and Penrith at Panthers Stadium on Saturday night would be critical in determining his side.
It appear to be Panthers halfback Nathan Cleary’s No.7 jumper to lose, although the door is ajar for others. “It is probably not just what Nathan Cleary does this weekend, it is what some other players do as well,” Fittler said.
As for Cleary’s Panthers’ teammate James Maloney, Fittler offers this: “Glaringly, through all [Penrith’s success this season], has been James’ defence. Nearly all the tries have come down past James. He’s going to go into Origin as one of the most senior players, possibly the most senior player. I don’t think you can have someone making those glaring defensive errors week-in, week-out, and putting the state’s ambitions on that. I just thought it was necessary to have a yarn to him. Last week, [Maloney's defence] was very good. I don’t think the Wests Tigers threw much at them. That’s why the St George game is going to be fantastic. I feel like it is more of a mindset thing. James is a very different sort of bloke. They get 14 behind [but] it doesn’t fluster him and that’s nearly invaluable. If the 14 is because he’s coming out of the line, all of a sudden it can be a problem.”
Defence, he says, is the only deficiency stopping Roosters centre Latrell Mitchell and Broncos counterpart James Roberts from selection after both engaged in an intriguing dress rehearsal when they came up against each other at Suncorp Stadium last Friday night.
“I have never seen a greater catch-22 where they both scored or set up two tries, but they both let in a couple,” Fittler said. “The thing we have to hope is that they learn from letting them in. They are both flat-out attackers. I think their defence has picked up a great deal from where they have been. I can see why they came out [of the line] because of the fear of the other player.”
The other last selection hint Fittler dropped related to fullback, which has become a shootout between the Roosters’ James Tedesco and Manly’s Tom Trbojevic.
The latter’s combination with his brother, Jake, could see Tedesco dumped from the side.
“Jake and Tom are a great combination through the middle,” Fittler said. “I think that’s also something you have to be mindful of. That combination: they do some great stuff at Manly when they have been on.”
One thing is certain about Fittler’s team: he won’t be selecting players who aren’t prepared to put the jumper ahead of themselves.
In the smouldering mess of last year’s series loss, it quickly became clear that some players were more concerned about renewing their contracts at their respective clubs than wearing the sky blue.
In the last few years, Fittler has been getting out on his Harley-Davidson in the NSW countryside for his annual Hogs for Homeless ride. He has been gobsmacked by the number of kids, in this very state, who support Queensland.
“It was a selfish culture, no doubt about that, because there was a lot of people making decisions for themselves,” he said. “There’s only really two cultures: there’s one where people think about themselves and there’s one where people think about their workmates, their teammates. I am going to pick players who think about their teammates. I’ve been going around and asking a lot of coaches about their players, the ones who are in line, what sort of people they are. That’s been one of the key things we have been trying to do, get out to all the clubs.
“There doesn’t seem to be anyone at the moment in that situation [of coming off contract]. Going through last year when you saw what the Tigers boys went through . . . by game three they were that distracted that they didn’t play very good. Some players can do it really well. Others don’t do it very well. At the moment it seems to be that everyone in our area, in our pool we are picking from, seems to be without distraction.
“The big thing is driving around NSW and understanding what Origin does to people. It is amazing since I have been coach the impression Origin makes on everyone, whether you are in Melbourne, Adelaide, Sydney or NSW country. It is an unbelievable beast at the moment. I just want to make sure we do the best possible job. Part of that is picking the best possible team. We want our stars to behave well and be great role models.”