Brad Fittler

Penrith’s first homegrown Test captain Brad Fittler was also the first player to graduate from an Australian Schoolboys team to a senior Australian rugby league team in consecutive years (1989-90). Fittler's trademark sidestep and 100 kg frame quickly earned him the reputation as one of the most feared attacking players in the game. Fittler was the centre of a selection storm during the 1989 semi-final series when coach Ron Willey preferred to play him at five-eighth ahead of veterans Chris Mortimer and Brad Izzard. In 1990 he became the youngest player in State of Origin history (18 years 114 days, since bettered by Ben Ikin) and the youngest ever Kangaroo tourist (18 years 229 days). A try-scorer in Penrith's 1990 grand final loss to Canberra, the 1991 premiership decider saw him set up a crucial try for Brad Izzard that provided the turning point in the Panthers’ grand final success. Selected for the tour of Papua New Guinea, he missed Penrith's loss in the World Club Challenge but played in both Tests at lock. In 1992 he stood down from the Second Test against Great Britain due to the death of close friend Ben Alexander but returned for the Ashes decider in Brisbane. A member of Australia's 1992 World Cup squad Fittler excelled in the five-eighth role and played a great match in Australia's 10-6 win despite having his cheekbone smashed in a tackle. He played in 6 matches for NSW, 4 Tests, 13 tour games, a World Cup final and won a premiership all before his 21st birthday. Fittler played alongside Mal Meninga in all three Tests against NZ in 1993 but following his move to lock with the Panthers, found himself in that position for the one-off Test against France at P’matta Stadium in 1994. Fittler was close to being the best Australian forward on his second Kangaroo Tour, playing in all four Tests and winning the man-of-the-match award in Australia’s vital Second Test win over Great Britain. He returned from the tour as Penrith's most capped Test player but chose to leave the club when the Panthers joined Super League in 1995. Despite captaining NSW to a shock 3-0 loss in the State of Origin series in 1995 he was named Australian Test captain for the Trans Tasman series. Fittler produced a dominant display in the whitewashing of NZ in three Tests (the Kiwi captain was Fittler’s Penrith teammate Gary Freeman - the first time opposing Test captains played with the same club) before leading Australia (sans Super League players) to a 16-8 World Cup win at the end of the year. Joining former coach and mentor Phil Gould at Easts on the richest contract in rugby league history in 1996 Fittler led NSW in a 3-0 series win over Queensland before captaining his country against Fiji. Injury ruled him out of the ARL’s 1997 rep season and he surrendered the Blues and Australian Test captaincy to Laurie Daley in the interest of a unified competition the following year. In early 1999 Fittler led Australia to victory in the ANZac Day Test after recapturing the captaincy at a time when he was rightly regarded as the best player in the world. In 2000 he capped a hectic year (leading NSW to a State of Origin whitewash and Australia in the one-off Test win over NZ) by captaining the Roosters in the grand final loss to Brisbane and Australia to World Cup victory in England. The following year, after 13 seasons competing at the highest levels of the game, the edge appeared to go off Fittler’s competitiveness. In June he announced his planned retirement from representative football – his plan, after fulfilling that year’s representative commitments, was to concentrate on winning a premiership with the Roosters. After suffering defeat in his ‘final’ State of Origin match Fittler captained Australia to Test wins against NZ and Papua New Guinea (the latter played as a prelude to the Kangaroo Tour). As Australian captain Fittler caught much of the backlash over the ARL’s immediate decision to cancel the tour in light of the September 11 terrorist attacks. While the decision to go ahead with a shortened tour publicly left him out to dry, Fittler handled the situation with great maturity and dignity. Australia’s back-to-the-wall Ashes victory was a worthy swansong to a marvelous Test career. In 2002 he duly captained the Roosters to a grand final victory over the Warriors and while Phil Gould recalled the veteran into NSW’s successful State of Origin team in 2004 for a last bow in representative football he suffered grand final defeat in the final two seasons of his club career (against former club Penrith in 2003 and the Bulldogs in 2004). Brad Fittler retired with the second highest number of first grade games to his credit (336) and with 25 internationals as captain (20 Tests and 5 World Cup matches) which is second only to the great Clive Churchill. One of the great players of the modern game he accepted the position as assistant coach to Chris Anderson at the Roosters.