Rugby league great Phil Gould has backed Brad Fittler to be “a million per cent more effective” as an NRL coach if he has a second crack at it amid rumours the Eels are interested in hiring the NSW coach.
With the Eels mired in a form slump that has seen the side drop four straight matches, fingers have been pointed everywhere, including at current coach Brad Arthur, who has fielded a number of questions surrounding his future at the club.
Since then, Fittler’s name has done the rounds as a potential coaching solution, but despite those reports, Fittler has strongly denied he’s interested in taking over Parramatta.
“No, no I won’t be coaching them,” Fittler told Wide World of Sports’ Freddy and The Eighth.
“I haven’t spoken to anyone about Parramatta. No one’s mentioned [to me].”
However, Fittler did tease the idea of one day returning as an NRL coach, admitting there’s a number of clubs at which he’d fancy an opportunity.
“But I’ve got to say, it (Parramatta) would be a good club to coach at. If I was ever going to coach, it would be a good club to coach at… but they’re not the only club,” he said.
“I think the Tigers would be a good club to coach at. I love the Campbeltown area.
“There’s a lot of clubs that I think would be good clubs to coach at… but that doesn’t mean I’m going to coach.”
Before taking the Blues job in 2018, Fittler had previous experience as a head coach for the Roosters between 2007 and 2009. After a successful first season, things turned sour and he was eventually sacked with a 43 per cent win rate.
After taking over the Roosters mid-season in 2007, Fittler guided the club to a top-four finish in 2008 but was unable to build on that, with the Tricolours finishing with the wooden spoon in 2009.
According to Gould, a lack of coaching preparation before taking on the job with the Roosters ultimately cost Fittler the chance to make a career of club coaching at that point.
“The history of Brad’s coaching, I think he took on a coaching role before he had given it any thought or consideration,” he told Wide World of Sports’ Six Tackles with Gus podcast.
“He had success early in that role, but then the lack of preparation going into that came against him in the end. He learned a valuable lesson.
“I thought that would’ve turned him off, but what he did was, he realised his own personal lack of preparation going into that first gig, then went back to the very junior rep levels and helped enormously with the creation of the New South Wales’ pathway programs.”
Gould, also a former Roosters coach, suggested Fittler’s inability to understand the mindset of the “average NRL player” is what hurt him the most during his coaching career with his former side.
“Brad Fittler is to my mind, is an Immortal-class footballer – his record in the game is as good as any player that’s played the game,” Gould explained.
“I often say that sometimes the really great players struggle to coach the average players.
“Brad had to learn to do that, to understand what the average NRL player thinks, feels, and the difficulty he has in learning his own emotions, or his own development.
“I think Brad’s been through all of that now.
“I’m sure if he took on an NRL job, he would do it completely differently and be a million per cent more effective than the first time around.”
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