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How I lost control - Fittler
By Jessica Halloran From: The Sunday Telegraph February 21, 2010 12:01AM Increase Text Size Decrease Text Size Print Email Share Add to Digg Add to del.icio.us Add to Facebook Add to Kwoff Add to Myspace Add to Newsvine What are these?
Sea change ... Brad Fittler at Bronte Beach. Photograph: Anthony Reginato Source: The Sunday Telegraph
BRAD Fittler kicks back to tell Jessica Halloran about his Roosters sacking and his 'outstanding' new life.
AT times it felt like he was being hurled through the air at 120km/h. Brad Fittler likened his coaching life to being on the amusement park ride the Vomatron. "It was out of control, the ride,'' Fittler says. "It was totally out of control. It was like the Vomatron amped up five times.''
Last year was the hardest year of Fittler's life. "No doubt,'' he says. "No doubt.''
He went from Roosters' darling to discard within months. His relationship with one-time father figure and club chairman Nick Politis dissolved over the way he was sacked. "I thought there was a better way to do it,'' Fittler says. "But let's be honest, it was a pretty awful year. I didn't help it.''
He was emotionally tired and his skin broke out in a blotchy red rash during the most stressful part of the season. "You don't want to turn up and you've got to,'' Fittler says. "You are old enough to know it's going to go away. So, you get through it.''
Off-field the Roosters were a rabble and on it they were a shambles. Frustratingly, Fittler watched one-time star Willie Mason "play really poorly''.
He felt his coaching soul was being smashed when he realised the playing group was no longer listening to him.
"When you lose control, that is the worst feeling,'' Fittler says. "I lost control. Not so much control, but just that they weren't listening. They were not doing what I was saying. You're in a job where you have to direct people and I wasn't good enough at it.''
You weren't a good enough coach? "Yeah, it was obvious,'' he responds. "Whether you've got a hard crew or not, I've got to tick it off as 'well, I didn't do my job - that's life'.''
Fittler's life now is a far different story. He spends afternoons hang gliding, he has relaxed on Thai and Greek beaches over the past four months and now has a coastal office. He often hangs out of his window, sucking up the sea air and can sometimes be seen shouting to passers-by, including NRL chief David Gallop who surfs the local waves.
He finally has time to read again and is immersed in Naomi Klein's book, The Shock Doctrine - it's the book that caused him to remark that the AFL is behaving like "capitalist animals'' in Sydney's west.
Last week he adored the "unreal'' experience of being an assistant coach of the All Stars and next week he is going skiing. "I've just had a spell of all-time greatness,'' Fittler says. "My life is outstanding. Outstanding.''
He is even mending fractured relationships. Last week he picked up his BlackBerry and dialled Politis' number for the first time since leaving the club. "We didn't really speak after I left,'' Fittler says. "I don't hold grudges that often. The way it went down was poor, I thought there was a better way to do it. But let's be honest, it was a pretty awful year. I didn't help it. The things I did didn't help it.
"You live and die by the sword. Things could have been done a little bit different. I didn't ring for any other reason than I didn't have much to say. We are good mates. Obviously I've got a soft spot for the Roosters. I had a lot of great times there. I think Brian Smith is the man for the job. I've been out there and done interviews and the players look happy and so does Brian.''
Fittler is working as a reporter for BigPond TV, hopping around NRL clubs doing pre-season interviews, as well as having a contract with Channel Nine.
As an observer, he says the Roosters have made the right move with Mason and admits he was disappointed that the 29-year-old didn't perform for him.
"The big thing I'd got with Willie last year was that his footy was really poor. Whatever he was doing off the field that was up to Willie, but on the field he was poor,'' he says. "That's the only thing from my point of view.
"Your footy is usually a reflection of everything that is happening in your life, so his footy was really poor. From the club point of view, that was disappointing to me, because I was the coach.''
The controversial main star of the NRL has been moved on to Townsville and Fittler sees the move to North Queensland as the last chance for the one-time Test forward.
"It's tough for him,'' Fittler says. "There's a side to Willie where he has a lot of charisma and for whatever reason he is good for our game. If he fails, he's going to get hammered and he's going to have to go pretty good not to get hammered.
"That's all his doing. That's no one else's doing. He understands that, he's just got to make sure he's good enough to get out of it.''
As a coach, Fittler felt he was giving his all but there were others at the Roosters that wanted more from him. He remembers being called into a meeting with some Roosters officials, who noted that most coaches put in hours from dusk to dawn and took their laptops home with them still working away at the coaching game.
Fittler says his natural personality is not a lot like some other "stiff (coaching) dudes'' and found the meeting quite perplexing. "They spoke about other coaches,'' Fittler says. "How they work 10 hours a day and then take their computers home and work even more. I just went, 'look, I'm very confident I'm doing enough time. We work hard. We get there early'. It's getting out of control. It's a game of footy. It's more about competing than anything you can really do.''
One of his greatest lows came when he got hopelessly drunk on a trip to Townsville. "Had a great night up to the death,'' Fittler recalls. But then he blanked out, just like he did outside a Glebe police station in 1999, and this time he was found trying to get into someone else's hotel room.
Even though he wasn't getting an official answer on his future, he was constantly asking for one before the axe finally dropped. "There was no surprise,'' Fittler says. "I knew months before.
"I kept going to (CEO Steve Noyce), 'what's happening?' I was really concerned about the other staff. They may not live under the same spotlight, but their jobs are also very temporary. I felt sorry for them because they'd all left jobs to come and do this.''
Fittler enjoyed the wild journey, but he also found it exhausting. He didn't swim in the ocean for two years when he was Roosters head coach. "Oh, I love the ocean,'' he says. "But I just didn't get to the beach when I was coaching. You just get so serious and caught up in it.''
"I'll get back into coaching one day,'' Fittler says. "I'm open to it at some stage.'' And with those words he took off to go hang gliding.
How I lost control - Fittler
By Jessica Halloran From: The Sunday Telegraph February 21, 2010 12:01AM Increase Text Size Decrease Text Size Print Email Share Add to Digg Add to del.icio.us Add to Facebook Add to Kwoff Add to Myspace Add to Newsvine What are these?
Sea change ... Brad Fittler at Bronte Beach. Photograph: Anthony Reginato Source: The Sunday Telegraph
BRAD Fittler kicks back to tell Jessica Halloran about his Roosters sacking and his 'outstanding' new life.
AT times it felt like he was being hurled through the air at 120km/h. Brad Fittler likened his coaching life to being on the amusement park ride the Vomatron. "It was out of control, the ride,'' Fittler says. "It was totally out of control. It was like the Vomatron amped up five times.''
Last year was the hardest year of Fittler's life. "No doubt,'' he says. "No doubt.''
He went from Roosters' darling to discard within months. His relationship with one-time father figure and club chairman Nick Politis dissolved over the way he was sacked. "I thought there was a better way to do it,'' Fittler says. "But let's be honest, it was a pretty awful year. I didn't help it.''
He was emotionally tired and his skin broke out in a blotchy red rash during the most stressful part of the season. "You don't want to turn up and you've got to,'' Fittler says. "You are old enough to know it's going to go away. So, you get through it.''
Off-field the Roosters were a rabble and on it they were a shambles. Frustratingly, Fittler watched one-time star Willie Mason "play really poorly''.
He felt his coaching soul was being smashed when he realised the playing group was no longer listening to him.
"When you lose control, that is the worst feeling,'' Fittler says. "I lost control. Not so much control, but just that they weren't listening. They were not doing what I was saying. You're in a job where you have to direct people and I wasn't good enough at it.''
You weren't a good enough coach? "Yeah, it was obvious,'' he responds. "Whether you've got a hard crew or not, I've got to tick it off as 'well, I didn't do my job - that's life'.''
Fittler's life now is a far different story. He spends afternoons hang gliding, he has relaxed on Thai and Greek beaches over the past four months and now has a coastal office. He often hangs out of his window, sucking up the sea air and can sometimes be seen shouting to passers-by, including NRL chief David Gallop who surfs the local waves.
He finally has time to read again and is immersed in Naomi Klein's book, The Shock Doctrine - it's the book that caused him to remark that the AFL is behaving like "capitalist animals'' in Sydney's west.
Last week he adored the "unreal'' experience of being an assistant coach of the All Stars and next week he is going skiing. "I've just had a spell of all-time greatness,'' Fittler says. "My life is outstanding. Outstanding.''
He is even mending fractured relationships. Last week he picked up his BlackBerry and dialled Politis' number for the first time since leaving the club. "We didn't really speak after I left,'' Fittler says. "I don't hold grudges that often. The way it went down was poor, I thought there was a better way to do it. But let's be honest, it was a pretty awful year. I didn't help it. The things I did didn't help it.
"You live and die by the sword. Things could have been done a little bit different. I didn't ring for any other reason than I didn't have much to say. We are good mates. Obviously I've got a soft spot for the Roosters. I had a lot of great times there. I think Brian Smith is the man for the job. I've been out there and done interviews and the players look happy and so does Brian.''
Fittler is working as a reporter for BigPond TV, hopping around NRL clubs doing pre-season interviews, as well as having a contract with Channel Nine.
As an observer, he says the Roosters have made the right move with Mason and admits he was disappointed that the 29-year-old didn't perform for him.
"The big thing I'd got with Willie last year was that his footy was really poor. Whatever he was doing off the field that was up to Willie, but on the field he was poor,'' he says. "That's the only thing from my point of view.
"Your footy is usually a reflection of everything that is happening in your life, so his footy was really poor. From the club point of view, that was disappointing to me, because I was the coach.''
The controversial main star of the NRL has been moved on to Townsville and Fittler sees the move to North Queensland as the last chance for the one-time Test forward.
"It's tough for him,'' Fittler says. "There's a side to Willie where he has a lot of charisma and for whatever reason he is good for our game. If he fails, he's going to get hammered and he's going to have to go pretty good not to get hammered.
"That's all his doing. That's no one else's doing. He understands that, he's just got to make sure he's good enough to get out of it.''
As a coach, Fittler felt he was giving his all but there were others at the Roosters that wanted more from him. He remembers being called into a meeting with some Roosters officials, who noted that most coaches put in hours from dusk to dawn and took their laptops home with them still working away at the coaching game.
Fittler says his natural personality is not a lot like some other "stiff (coaching) dudes'' and found the meeting quite perplexing. "They spoke about other coaches,'' Fittler says. "How they work 10 hours a day and then take their computers home and work even more. I just went, 'look, I'm very confident I'm doing enough time. We work hard. We get there early'. It's getting out of control. It's a game of footy. It's more about competing than anything you can really do.''
One of his greatest lows came when he got hopelessly drunk on a trip to Townsville. "Had a great night up to the death,'' Fittler recalls. But then he blanked out, just like he did outside a Glebe police station in 1999, and this time he was found trying to get into someone else's hotel room.
Even though he wasn't getting an official answer on his future, he was constantly asking for one before the axe finally dropped. "There was no surprise,'' Fittler says. "I knew months before.
"I kept going to (CEO Steve Noyce), 'what's happening?' I was really concerned about the other staff. They may not live under the same spotlight, but their jobs are also very temporary. I felt sorry for them because they'd all left jobs to come and do this.''
Fittler enjoyed the wild journey, but he also found it exhausting. He didn't swim in the ocean for two years when he was Roosters head coach. "Oh, I love the ocean,'' he says. "But I just didn't get to the beach when I was coaching. You just get so serious and caught up in it.''
"I'll get back into coaching one day,'' Fittler says. "I'm open to it at some stage.'' And with those words he took off to go hang gliding.
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