Fittler aiming to make Blues history with fourth series in five years
The term dynasty is often bandied about in sport but with the chance to win their fourth State of Origin series in five years on Wednesday night, Brad Fittler’s NSW side is beginning to shape as one.
Queensland had their own period of dominance in modern times, boasting eight series wins in a row between 2006 and 2013.
But since Fittler’s ascent to the NSW coaching job in 2018, it has mostly been the team in blue that has lifted the shield.
“Some team is going to come out and want it a bit more than the other,” Fittler said on Tuesday. “It needs to be us.
“It will be (us). I’ve seen the way (the Blues) have trained – I just can’t see any other result.”
The sole series defeat of Fittler’s reign was in 2020 and the Blues are facing similar circumstances on Wednesday night at a sold-out Suncorp Stadium.
That time it was a deciding game in Brisbane and, after captain James Tedesco was knocked out, Queensland went on to pull off one of the great Origin upsets.
“A lot of them (the Blues players) were there (in 2020),” Fittler said. “It’s not as though we avoid it (as a topic of conversation).
“Players know whether they have done well and whether they’ve done poorly and could’ve done better.”
Knocking over a Maroons side that has won eight of the last nine deciders would also be one of Tedesco’s biggest achievements as captain.
The fullback, who has won back-to-back premierships with the Roosters, has been an ever-present under Fittler and can become just the third NSW captain after Laurie Daley (1994) and Danny Buderus (2005) to win a decider in Brisbane.
“It’s right up there,” Tedesco said.
“I think especially to captain a Blues team to a winning decider at Suncorp, that’s only happened twice.
“Looking at those teams, there were special players in every one of those teams.
“It’s a part of history I guess, but I don’t think that’s something I’ll look back on until I’ve finished footy. For now, it’s about getting the job done.”
Bookmakers and pundits may be favouring the Blues given the absence of mercurial Queensland five-eighth Cameron Munster (COVID-19), but the list of absentees for the Blues is long.
Considering three cornerstones of Fittler’s Blues era – Tom Trbojevic, Latrell Mitchell and Payne Haas – are all unavailable, the coach could have good reason to complain.
But Fittler said there was no point worrying about who wasn’t on deck on Wednesday night.
“That gets tossed up and you’ve just got to deal with it,” he said.
Comments on RugbyPass
“While Sotutu should start at No.8 for the All Blacks against England, but it’s only in that arena that he can prove just how good he really is.” And that my friends is where simply hasnt shone despite multiple opportunities. Even in this performance you can see what did him in in the test arena..he almost always still runs at the opposition almost ramrod upright making him easier to stop than it should be.
1 Go to commentsShould have been 0-0 and a message from SR CEO to both teams - “don’t worry about turning up next year”.
3 Go to commentsGreat work Owen Franks. A great of this team, scoring his first try for the Crusaders since 2010.He was beaming, justifiably. A fine win, he and the rest did the job up front.
1 Go to commentsDanny Care. Lang in die tand.
1 Go to commentsBig empty stadium does nothing for atmosphere but munster are playing well with solid performance
1 Go to commentsYes, Fiji can win the World Cup! With that belief plus their christian faith🙏 and hard work it is achievable. Great article. Ian Duncan Fiji resident 1981-84
2 Go to commentsInteresting comments about Touch. England’s hosting the Touch World Cup this year and the numbers have exploded since their last World Cup in 2019, something like 70% more teams and 40 nations taking part. And England Touch have made a big thing about how many universities are in their BUCS University Touch Championship as well as Sport England membership. Can only see this growing even more domestically as more people become aware of it
10 Go to comments“Cortez Ratima is light years ahead of anyone on current form, while TJ Perenara has also skyrocketed into contention following the unfortunate injury to the talented Cam Roigard.” At last some sanity. Hitherto so many pundits have been wittering on about Finlay Christie to the point one wondered if they were observing a FC in a parallel universe where the FC they saw wasnt just the mediocre Shayne Philpott project of Fosters hapless AB reign in the real world. Ratima, Perenara and Fakatava are the ONLY logical 9s for Razor now Roigard is crocked.
3 Go to commentsThis game was just as painful as the Hurricanes game. It was real fork-in-the-eye stuff.
3 Go to commentsNow if they could just fire the Crusaders ground PA guy who likes to play his dance music and just loves the sound of his own voice the entire game, even when play is going on. And I thought their brass band thing of a few years ago was bad.
5 Go to commentsUnfortunately when you lose by far the two form players this season in Roigard and Aumua, you're left replacing two game changing Tanks with a couple of pea-shooters. Which is also about the speed of TJs pass.
4 Go to commentsBit rich coming from the guy with zero loyalty to anyone or any team, including happily taking a players place in a league world cup squad because well, SBW wanted to play in it and thus an already named player got told he was no longer going. And airing stuff like this, which may or may not be true, doesn't exactly say you're a stand up guy either SBW. Just looking to keep his name in lights as usual.
38 Go to commentsTamati Tua. …the Taniwha NPC midfielder. Ollie Sapsford, Hawkes Bay NPC midfielder…doing well
4 Go to commentsFiji deserve to be in the rugby championship, fans love seeing the Fijian national team play, the Fijian Drua is a wonderful idea but the players can still be stolen to play for NZ and AUS…
2 Go to commentsThe first concern for this afternoon are wheather forecast…
1 Go to commentsWhy cant I watch Rugby games please?
1 Go to commentsBeautiful shot from Finau, end of story. Gutted for Shaun Stevenson though.
4 Go to commentsThe Chiefs definitely didn’t win ugly. They had the superior scrum, a dominant lineout, and their defence was excellent once the Waratahs scored their two tries (thanks to some lucky refereeing calls mind you). They put pressure on the Waratahs lineout throughout the game, and the mind boggles as to why the referee did not award a yellow card or a penalty try against the Waratahs for repeated scrum infringements on their own try line before Narawa’s first try. And the Chiefs were slick with their passing and running angles on attack. It was a dominant performance all round, even with many questionable refereeing decisions.
1 Go to commentsWasnt late. Ref 2 assistants andTMO all saw it so who are you to say it was?
4 Go to commentsAre the Brumbies playing the Blues twice in a row?
4 Go to comments