Brad ‘Freddy’ Fittler has shocked the NRL community, informing the NSWRL board that he will step down from his role as NSW Blues head coach, according to The Daily Telegraph.
The news comes as a massive surprise with reports throughout the last couple of weeks suggesting Fittler would sign a one-year extension and would be joined by coaching legend Phil Gould.
After six years in charge of the Blues, Fittler walks away with three wins from six series and now sits second on the list of most games coached for NSW.
SEN’s Matty Johns reacted to the breaking news and recommended two of the current NRL head coaches as his favourites to replace Fittler.
“I think Ricky Stuart or (Craig) Bellamy would be good candidates,” Johns told SEN 1170 The Run Home.
“They (NSWRL) turned the sheets over a couple of years ago, they said it can’t be a full-time coach, a club coach, but look I think the position we’re in right now, I think it should be.
“Slater’s done an incredible job with Queensland, but I do know the amount of time he puts into it, where NSW is now, we need a coach that is, for the use of a better term, ‘coach fit’.
“That’ll be a Bellamy or Ricky Stuart.”
Stuart has previously coached NSW winning four out of nine games, whilst Bellamy faced an even tougher tenure managing just two victories from nine attempts.
“Thinking on your feet, suddenly a player goes down and you’re going, ‘What the hell are we going to do here’, you’ve got a million things going on in your head and suddenly you’re putting Damien Cook on the wing,” Johns added.
“This is some of the stuff we’re talking about… I could only imagine how difficult it would be for a part-timer to go in there and in the cut-throat environment of a State of Origin game, you lose a key man (and think) what are we going to do?
“I think going forward for NSW, certainly I think in the next couple of years, let’s get someone who’s coach fit in there.”
The news of Fittler’s departure comes just hours after Queensland Maroons coach Billy Slater re-committing to the side until the end of 2026.