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Copying from Category:Australia national rugby league team captains to Category:Australia national rugby league team players using Cat-a-lot |
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{{Short description|
{{Use dmy dates|date=June 2023}}
{{Use Australian English|date=February 2012}}
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|weight = {{convert|96|kg|stlb|abbr=on}}<ref name=yahoo.com/>
|position = {{Rlp|FE|LK|CE}}
|club1 = {{nowrap|[[Penrith Panthers]]}}
|year1start = 1989
|year1end = 95
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|fieldgoals2 = 8
|points2 = 390
|teamA = {{nowrap|[[New South Wales rugby league team|New South Wales]]}}
|yearAstart = 1990
|yearAend = 04
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|coachdrawsB = 0
|coachlossesB = 3
|coachteamC = {{nowrap|[[New South Wales rugby league team|New South Wales]]}}
|coachyearCstart = 2018
|coachyearCend = 23
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}}
'''Bradley Scott Fittler''' (born 5 February 1972), also known by the [[nickname]] of '''"Freddy"''', is an [[Australia
Fittler captained both [[New South Wales rugby league team|New South Wales]] and [[Australian Kangaroos|Australia]], and in 2000 was awarded the [[Rugby League World Golden Boot Awards|Golden Boot]]. He retired as the most-[[Cap (sport)|capped]] [[New South Wales rugby league team|New South Wales]] [[State of Origin series|State of Origin]] player and third-most-capped Australian international player. Fittler won two [[Rugby League World Cup]]s as a team captain; he captained the Kangaroos to victory in both the [[1995 Rugby League World Cup final|1995]] and [[2000 Rugby League World Cup final|2000]] finals, and was also a member of the victorious [[1992 Rugby League World Cup final|1992]] team.<ref>[http://www.rugbyleagueproject.org/matches/world-cup-1989/final/great-britain-vs-australia.html 1992 World Cup final at Rugby League Project]</ref><ref>[http://www.rugbyleagueproject.org/matches/world-cup-1995/final/australia-vs-england.html 1995 World Cup final at Rugby League Project]</ref><ref>[http://www.rugbyleagueproject.org/matches/world-cup-2000/final/australia-vs-new-zealand.html 2000 World Cup final at Rugby League Project]</ref> In 2008, he was named among the finest rugby league footballers of the first century of rugby league in Australia.,<ref>[http://www.livenews.com.au/Articles/2008/02/22/Controversy_reigns_as_NRL_releases_top_100_players Century's Top 100 Players] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080225164807/http://www.livenews.com.au/Articles/2008/02/22/Controversy_reigns_as_NRL_releases_top_100_players|date=25 February 2008 }}</ref>
Since retiring from playing, Fittler has also coached the [[Sydney Roosters]] in the NRL and [[New South Wales rugby league team|New South Wales]], with whom he won three State of Origin series.
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Fittler was born in [[Auburn, New South Wales]], Australia. He grew up with his 2 siblings, Nathan and Kathleen Fittler.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.smh.com.au/articles/2004/10/02/1096527988686.html?from=moreStories|title=Freddie and the father back from the cold|date=3 October 2004}}</ref>
He played junior rugby league for a number of clubs in the Parramatta JRL District including, Sadleir Bulldogs, Dayments, Ashcroft Stallions and Mt. Pritchard Community Club (Mounties) before moving to Cambridge Park in the Penrith JRL District. While attending Ashcroft High School, [[St Dominics College, Sydney|St Dominic's College]] then later, [[Penola Catholic College, Emu Plains|McCarthy Catholic Senior High School Emu Plains]], Fittler played for the [[Australia national schoolboys rugby league team|Australian Schoolboys team]] in 1988 and 1989.<ref>{{cite web|title=SportingPulse Homepage for Australian Secondary Schools Rugby League|url=http://www.sportingpulse.com/assoc_page.cgi?c=7-2130-0-0-0&sID=26424|access-date=10 October 2008|
==Playing career==
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Fittler played in the centres in Penrith's 18–14 loss to the [[Canberra Raiders]] in the [[New South Wales Rugby League season 1990#Grand Final|1990 Grand Final]] and at the end of the season was selected for [[Australian Kangaroos|Australia]] and went on the [[1990 Kangaroo tour of Great Britain and France]]. Fittler did not play in a test on the tour, but played in 8 tour games and scored 8 tries.
In [[New South Wales Rugby League season 1991#Grand Final|1991]], he was part the Panthers' premiership winning-side. Fittler played in the centres as Penrith, under the coaching of [[Phil Gould (rugby league)|Phil Gould]] won their first ever premiership. At the end of the season, he was selected for the Kangaroos [[1991 Kangaroo tour of Papua New Guinea|five game tour]] of [[Papua New Guinea]] and made his test debut for Australia, playing at lock in Australia's two test series victory over the [[Papua New Guinea Kumuls]], scoring two tries on debut at the [[Danny Leahy Oval]] in [[Goroka]]. Fittler played in all five games during the two-week tour and scored 4 tries.
During the [[1992 Great Britain Lions tour of Australia and New Zealand]], he helped Australia retain [[The Ashes (rugby league)|The Ashes]]. Fittler, like the rest of the Penrith club, endured a tough [[1992 NSWRL season|1992 season]] due to the death of his best mate, up-and-coming halfback/hooker [[Ben Alexander (rugby league)|Ben Alexander]], the younger brother of Penrith captain [[Greg Alexander]]. Following Alexander's death in a car accident, Penrith's form dropped off in the second half of the season with the defending premiers finishing out of the finals in 9th place. As a result of Alexander's death which happened between the first and second Ashes tests, Fittler was left out of the second test team by his own request, but returned to the team in the deciding match in [[Brisbane]] which Australia won 16–10 to retain The Ashes.
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Penrith improved to a 10–10–2 record and an 8th-place finish in the [[1994 NSWRL season]], despite the late season walk-out of Phil Gould (who was moving to coach the [[Sydney City Roosters]] after falling out with the Penrith club board) who was replaced with Fittler's 1991 premiership teammate [[Royce Simmons]]. During the year he was selected at lock for [[1994 French rugby league Oceania tour|a test against]] [[France national rugby league team|France]] at Sydney's [[Parramatta Stadium]] (won 58–0 by Australia) and at the end of the season he was selected for his second [[1994 Kangaroo tour|Kangaroo Tour]]. Fittler played at lock in all four tests against Great Britain (3) and France (1) on the tour, winning man of the match in Australia's 38–8 win in the second test at [[Old Trafford]] in [[Manchester]] to keep the Ashes series alive. The Kangaroos went on to win the third test 23–4 to retain the Ashes before demolishing France with a world record 74–0 win in [[Béziers]]. Fittler played in 12 games on tour (one as a replacement), scoring two tries. He was also named as Man of the Match playing at lock in Australia's non-test international played against [[Wales national rugby league team|Wales]] in [[Cardiff]], scoring one of his tours two tries in the wet conditions (his only other try would come in the tours 3rd last game in [[France]] when he scored against a [[XIII Catalan|Catalans Seclection]] in a 60–16 win at the [[Stade Gilbert Brutus]] in [[Perpignan]]).
By 1995, Fittler was the world's highest-paid rugby league player, reportedly earning $1.05 million for the season.<ref>{{cite news
|last=Ian
|first=Thomsen
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}}</ref> This was during the period of the [[Super League war]] when player payments rose to previously unheard of levels as both the [[Australian Rugby League]] (ARL), backed by media billionaire [[Kerry Packer]], and the rebel [[Super League (Australia)|Super League]] (SL), backed by [[News Ltd.]], signed up players for (in some cases) double or triple their previous contracts. Fittler signed with the Australian Rugby League.
With the ARL refusing to select SL aligned players for representative football, Fittler was given the captaincy of the [[New South Wales state rugby league team|NSW Origin]] team for the [[1995 State of Origin series]] against [[Queensland Maroons|Queensland]]. Coached by rookie coach [[Paul Vautin]], and with a bunch of untried players thanks to not being able to call upon their usual Origin and test stars (mostly from the SL aligned [[Brisbane Broncos]]), Qld were not given any chance of defeating the Blues (who could still call on a number of experienced Origin and test players), but came away with a 3–0 whitewash for their first series win since [[1991 State of Origin series|1991]]. However, despite this, Fittler was given the Australian captaincy for the 3-test [[1995 Trans-Tasman Test series|Trans-Tasman series]] against [[New Zealand national rugby league team|New Zealand]] making him Australia's youngest captain (23) since [[Reg Gasnier]] had first captained Australia in 1962. Fittler led the Kangaroos to a 3–0 sweep of the Kiwis, including winning man of the match in the 20–10 second test win at the [[Sydney Football Stadium (1988)|Sydney Football Stadium]].
At the end of the [[1995 ARL season]], Fittler was an automatic choice to captain Australia in the [[1995 Rugby League World Cup]]. Although the Kangaroos suffered a shock 20–16 loss to [[England national rugby league team|England]] in the opening game of the tournament at Wembley, and had a nervous, 30–20 win over New Zealand in extra-time in the Semi-final in [[Huddersfield]] after scores had been locked at 20-all at the end of regulation time, Fittler would lead Australia to its 8th World Cup success (and 5th in a row) with an 18–8 win over England in front of 66,540 fans at Wembley.
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| access-date = 2010-07-03}}</ref> Indeed, the Roosters took out the 2009 wooden spoon and a clean-out of the club began. He was replaced by [[Brian Smith (rugby league, born 1954)|Brian Smith]].
In 2010 Fittler was linked with a move to the London-based [[Super League]] side [[London Broncos#2006–2011: Harlequins Rugby League|Harlequins]], but this ultimately did not eventuate.<ref>{{cite news|agency=Press Association|url=https://www.google.com/hostednews/ukpress/article/ALeqM5iXQJaN3-hgzdtY2xmDWCz9XX4cZw|date=6 April 2010|access-date=6 April 2010}}{{dead link|date=June 2024|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}</ref>
On 24 November 2017, Fittler was announced as the new coach of the [[New South Wales rugby league team]] as the replacement for [[Laurie Daley]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.nrl.com/fittler-confirmed-as-new-blues-coach/tabid/10874/newsid/116567/default.aspx|title=Fittler confirmed as new Blues coach|publisher=National Rugby League|first=Michael|last=Chammas|date=24 November 2017|access-date=24 November 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171124032415/http://www.nrl.com/fittler-confirmed-as-new-blues-coach/tabid/10874/newsid/116567/default.aspx|archive-date=24 November 2017|url-status=dead}}</ref> and announced a significant change to the Game 1 roster compared to the previous series with the debut of 11 players for the match on 6 June 2018.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Perry |first1=Jodan |title=Brave new era? Blues put faith in fresh faces to break Maroons' Origin stranglehold |url=http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-05-29/nsw-state-of-origin-game-1-team-analysis/9807842 |website=[[ABC Online]] |access-date=28 July 2018 |language=en-AU |date=29 May 2018}}</ref> He ultimately led the side to its first series win since [[2014 State of Origin series|2014]] with an 18–14 victory in the second game.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-06-24/state-of-origin-nsw-blues-beats-queensland-maroons/9904244|title=State of Origin: New South Wales Blues claim series win over Queensland Maroons in Sydney|publisher=ABC News|location=Australia|date=24 June 2018|access-date=28 June 2018}}</ref> He was again successful the following year as the Blues won consecutive series for the first time since 2004–05.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.smh.com.au/sport/nrl/the-message-brad-fittler-sent-to-his-players-with-four-minutes-left-20190711-p5266t.html|title=The message Brad Fittler sent to his players with four minutes left|work=[[The Sydney Morning Herald]]|first=Andrew|last=Webster|date=11 July 2019|access-date=11 July 2019}}</ref>
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On 24 June 2020, Fittler had his contract as New South Wales coach extended until the 2021 State of Origin series.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.nswrl.com.au/news/2020/06/24/nswrl-board-extends-fittlers-contract/|title=NSWRL board extends Fittler's contract|publisher=New South Wales Rugby League|date=24 June 2020|access-date=24 June 2020}}</ref>
In the [[2020 State of Origin series]], Fittler coached a highly fancied New South Wales side to a 2–1 defeat against Queensland. Before the series began, some NSW media outlets described the 2020 Queensland team as the worst ever Maroons side in history.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.foxsports.com.au/nrl/state-of-origin/state-of-origin-2020-game-3-result-old-maroons-beat-nsw-blues-worst-queensland-team-ever-dean-ritchie-highlights/news-story/7ecdef2d5c76ff3fd804328f3e1ff264|title='I'll be ducking Freddy': Journo eats humble pie over 'worst team' call... but doesn't regret it|
In the [[2021 State of Origin series]], New South Wales bounced back under Fittler to win the series 2-1. New South Wales won the first game 50-6 followed by a 26-0 victory in game 2.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.sportingnews.com/au/rugby-league/news/state-of-origin-2021-scores-player-ratings-times-venues-broadcast-information-squads/jucip4zdly611gvp3bsj8fr05/|title=State of Origin 2021: Who won, player ratings, scores, squads|website=www.sportingnews.com}}</ref>
Under Fittler, New South Wales would lose the [[2022 State of Origin series]] after game 3 went to a decider in Brisbane which New South Wales lost 22-12.<ref>{{cite
Before the start of the [[2023 State of Origin series]], Fittler was criticised by the media and fans alike for his team selections before game 1 which included not selecting the in-form [[Campbell Graham]] and [[Dylan Edwards]], instead electing to pick the out of form [[James Tedesco]] and [[Tom Trbojevic]] along with the selection of [[Tevita Pangai Junior]]. New South Wales would go on to lose the opening game after leading towards the end of the match. Before game 2, Fittler caused more controversy for his selections including leaving [[Nicholas Hynes]] out of the team altogether, instead he elected to pick [[Mitchell Moses]] as the replacement for the injury [[Nathan Cleary]]. New South Wales would lose game 2 32-6 which gave Queensland the series victory.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.foxsports.com.au/nrl/state-of-origin/state-of-origin-2023-brad-fittler-future-as-blues-coach-nsw-vs-queensland-game-2-who-replaces-brad-fittler-james-hooper-analysis-opinion/news-story/194e48159478ca3cd666e10fb2f706c7/|title=The blunders that sealed
On 28 September 2023, Fittler stepped down from his role as New South Wales head coach. It was reported that NSWRL Chairman Paul Conlon and his board offered Fittler a contract extension but he declined the offer.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.nrl.com/news/2023/09/28/fittler-quits-nsw-on-lookout-for-new-origin-coach/|title=Fittler quits: NSW on lookout for new Origin coach|website=www.nrl.com|date=28 September 2023 }}</ref>
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{{Succession box
| before = [[Laurie Daley]]<br>2013-2017
| title = Coach<br>{{flagicon|New South Wales}}<br>[[New South Wales rugby league team|New South Wales State of Origin]]
| years =
| after = [[Michael Maguire (rugby league)|Michael Maguire]]<br>2024-present
}}▼
}}
{{Succession box
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{{Rugby League Golden Boot Award Winners}}
{{Panthers' Team of Legends}}
{{Navboxes
|title= Coaching positions
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{{New South Wales State of Origin coaches}}
{{Lebanon national rugby league team coaches}}
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[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:Australia national rugby league team captains]]
[[Category:Australia national rugby league team players]]
[[Category:Australian people of German descent]]
[[Category:Australian rugby league coaches]]
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