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Brad Fittler stood on the patio of the NSW Blues’ Coogee hotel before Game 1 and described his team selection as a gamble.
Stood in the same spot ahead of Game 2, he insisted that he was not a gambler, but admitted that his decision to pick three players who cannot train – Latrell Mitchell, Cameron Murray and Liam Martin – was a risk.
“They’re risks,” said the Blues coach. “They have to be nursed. We’ve been communicating with the Souths medical department and, to get these blokes to next Wednesday, they can’t do much on-field stuff.
“We think they’re that valuable that they’re worth the risk.
“I don’t think that we were far off. The way they won it was pretty impressive, I have to say, but everything else we did in the game said that we’re not far off.
“I didn’t think that we needed mass changes. Obviously we lost a couple to injury, a halfback and a hooker, so changes there and that’s going to change the way that we play, but we want to keep it as fluent as possible.
“I’m a non-gambler, and the fact that we made limited changes points towards not gambling. Stefano is a good risk – I’ve coached him for a long time and I think he’s got what it takes to go to the next level.
“The only other change was bringing in a second hooker over a versatility player. If anything, coming off a loss, there are limited risks.”
One change he did double down on was the selection of Mitchell Moses as the replacement for Nathan Cleary, revealing that it was always his choice to have the Eels’ halfback as next man up.
“The last time Nathan went down, Mitchell played, so the banter around who was going to play I couldn’t work out,” said Fittler.
“It makes you a lot more comfortable when you watch yesterday (Parramatta’s win over the Bulldogs) and he goes an controls the game and plays a big part in why they won.
“I find it interesting sometimes the chat around different positions and players and choices. It’s becoming a circus. I’ve always had confidence in Mitchell.
“You still have to watch every game and with the amount of players getting injured these days, it was important that we waited until yesterday afternoon. I went to watch the game and it gave us confidence the way that he played.
“It’s a circus around selections. It’s hilarious.
(Photo by Bradley Kanaris/Getty Images)
“He got to the Grand Final. They’re winning big games. It’s not just Mitchell and a lot of things go towards that, but we’re all aware of the pressure that a number 7 wears these days and what they have to do in their team.
“Parramatta had a great year last year. Big games are big games and they got used to winning them.
“He’s not that different – when you watch Nathan at Penrith, he’s the dominant voice and when you watch Mitchell at Parramatta, he’s also the dominant voice.
“Obviously, Jarome and Mitchell are going to have to find a combination and expedite the way they work together. But if everyone does their job, they’ll be the dominant voice and if we’re in a position to score tries, hopefully they come up with the points.”
Despite the inability of key players to train, Fittler insisted that what happened on the training field wasn’t that important in terms of building connections, and that contact in particular wasn’t needed at this stage in the year.
“We start today,” he said.
“We got them in today, we watched every game to make sure that we got the team that we wanted. We’ll have a lot of players not train during the week so a lot of it will have to be mental and how we go about it. I don’t think it’s been done before, so it’s quite the challenge.
“You need a little reminder and most teams do it every week even if it’s just for a few minutes, but they’re battered. It’s a tough game in every position. They’re all carrying injuries.
“The smart coaches time that perfect. Most players do their injuries at training these days so you need the timing of it to make a great team.
“There has to be other ways of doing it off the field because we can’t do much on the field. If we want all of our players to be playing, it’s going to have to be done in other places. We’ve got until next Wednesday, and I reckon by then we’ll be fresh and ready.
“Someone told me that we’re underdogs – I’m not sure if that works in our favour, who really cares? It’s always good to fight out of a corner.”