Blues coach Brad Fittler will present to the NSWRL board this month in a bid to save his job – and Penrith’s Ivan Cleary could prove the deciding factor.
Fittler enjoyed a sizzling start to his Origin coaching career with back-to-back series wins, but after losing three of the past four he’s now on the chopping block.
The NSWRL board will hear Fitter’s assessment of the 2023 series before completing their own review and making a decision on his future by October.
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NSW avoided a series whitewash by winning Game III this year with Penrith’s premiership winning coach Ivan Cleary sitting in the box alongside Fittler.
Veteran journalist Brent Read believes that Cleary – who has won the past two NRL titles – holds the keys to securing his future as Blues coach.
“I reckon what he’s got to be really smart about is what he says about his own coaching staff,” Read said on Triple M.
“Because we saw they won Origin III and they had Ivan Cleary involved for the first time.
“If he’s smart… look I’d be reaching out to Ivan as part of my review if I’m Brad then I’d be going back to New South Wales rugby league and would say ‘look I want to do it again and Ivan, or someone of that ilk, is willing to do it with me and I reckon that would help his cause immensely.”
That course of action would likely see one of Fitter’s assistants axed, with Greg Alexander and Danny Buderus having served under him since 2018.
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There are reports that Fittler will be handed a one-year extension but Read believes the coach’s future remains still very much up in the air.
“All the talk at the moment is he’ll get another year but I think that’s a bit premature,” Read said.
“Brad’s got to do that review and he’ll look into how Origin went from his perspective, what he was happy with and what he wasn’t. He’s got to present that to the board by the end of August, they’ve got a meeting in September and they’ll do their own review.
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“A lot talk that Brad will get another year and I reckon they’re leaning that way but I reckon it’ll probably hinge on what the report says – both his report and the board review (report) of this year’s series because obviously they’ve lost a number of series in a row now and I think there’s some concerns about the direction they’re going in.
“So my gut feel is they’ll get another gig but a lot will rely on the reviews that are carried out – one by Brad himself and one by the board after that.”
