Brad Fittler has laughed off speculation about his future as NSW coach but concedes “it won’t be pretty” if the Blues fall to a series whitewash in State of Origin III.
With 17 games at the helm, Fittler is the longest continually serving coach in Blues history but has now lost three of the past four series, sitting with a 47 per cent win-rate ahead of the 2023 finale at Accor Stadium in Sydney.
Fittler acknowledged after Queensland claimed the series in game two he would need to meet with the NSW Rugby League board to discuss his future.
A decision is unlikely to be made until after the end of the NRL season but even if the Blues are beaten 3-0 questions remain as to NSW’s viable replacement options.
Of the Blues’ four assistant coaches, only Paul McGregor has full-time first-grade head-coaching experience, with Danny Buderus, Andrew Johns and Greg Alexander all untested at the top level.
The days of coaches juggling NRL and Origin duties appear over, while the impending arrival of Des Hasler and Shane Flanagan at Gold Coast and St George Illawarra respectively means there is a shortage of premiership-winning mentors on the open market.
The most-recent living coach to win an NRL premiership who is not currently employed at an NRL club is John Lang, who guided Penrith to the 2003 title. He retired from coaching in 2011.
The headlines around his coaching future have not registered with Fittler.
“I haven’t really read them,” he said.
“Every now and then I get told. Once again, they’re all opinions. At the end of the day, NSW will sit down and decide who’s the best person to coach the team.
“Then I’ll have the opportunity to say whether I want to coach the team. In and amongst that, they’ll find a coach.
“We’ve spoken about what needs to happen and the consequences of winning and losing.
“It won’t be pretty if we get beat. On the other hand, when you win, it’ll be a nice feeling.”
The NSW playing group’s ardent support for their coach has provided cold comfort for Fittler.
“They’re players, they always support their coach, until the coach gets sacked,” he laughed.
“Then they support the other coach.”
Blues captain James Tedesco, who has faced pressure over keeping his Origin spot this series, said Fittler’s detractors failed to see the big picture.
“It’s similar to me, everyone’s judging him off two games or one series, when you’ve got to look back at a whole career,” Tedesco said.
“Someone’s going to win and someone’s going to lose, it’s just how it is.
“But Freddy’s got the best out of our players.
“That motivation that he brings, that pride in the jersey, he definitely brought that back in ’18 and ’19.
“That pride in the NSW jersey came back in bucketloads and he brought that to us.”
