The NSW Blues are suddenly on the lookout for a new head coach after Brad Fittler stepped down from the role in a stunning turn of events on Thursday afternoon.
The news came after Fittler reportedly had “serious difficulties coming to an agreement about the direction for the Blues”, according to Channel Nine’s Danny Weidler.
Attention now will turn to who takes over as NSW coach as the Blues look to rebound from a disappointing series defeat to Queensland.
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While there are no obvious contenders to take over, Matty Johns put forward two current NRL coaches as “great candidates” to take the added responsibility on.
“They (NSWRL) turned the sheets over State of Origin a few years ago and said it can’t be a full-time coach but I think the position we’re in right now, I think it should be,” Johns said on SEN 1170’s ‘The Run Home’.
“Slater’s done an incredible job with Queensland, but I do know the amount of time he puts into it. I just think where New South Wales are at the moment, we need a coach who is, for the use of a better term, ‘coach fit’.
“That’d be a Bellamy or Ricky Stuart.”
Further supporting his argument, Johns pointed towards the headache of dealing with in-game injuries as yet another scenario where having a more experienced coach would benefit the Blues.
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“Thinking on your feet, suddenly a player goes down and you’re going, ‘What the hell are we going to do here’ and a million things going on in your head and suddenly you’re putting Damien Cook on the wing,” Johns said.
“I’ve been up in the coach’s box, it was a long time ago with Bellamy and the Melbourne Storm and it amazed me how intricate and complicated the interchange process was.
“They had a whiteboard there and they were shuffling players around. To get things right they had scenarios up their sleeve if a key player went down. They’re doing this every week.
“You could only imagine how difficult it would be for a part-timer to go in there and suddenly in the cut and thrust of a State of Origin game, you lose a key man. What are we going to do?
“I think going forward for New South Wales, certainly I think in the next couple of years, let’s get someone who’s coach fit in there.”
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Leading NRL journalist Phil Rothfield also argued Stuart would be an ideal candidate to replace Fittler back in June in the wake of NSW’s series defeat.
“I think Ricky Stuart’s better,” Rothfield said on NRL 360.
Gorden Tallis though cast doubt over Stuart’s ability to balance his NRL duties with Origin responsibilities, claiming that “you can’t do both”.
“Why can’t you do both?” Rothfield replied at the time.
“You know who his assistant is in Canberra? It’s Michael Maguire, Gordy. I think he can run the club for six weeks.
“Ricky Stuart is the man to put pride back into that NSW jersey.”
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