Why Craig Fitzgibbon is poised to be next supercoach at Sharks

In order to pull off his signature party trick, Craig Fitzgibbon first had to find a willing participant.

This was easiest when the Roosters, as was often the case during his playing days, would gather at a bowling club after a game or a training session. Fitzgibbon would scan the venue, size up a suitable septuagenarian and buy him a beer.

Shortly afterwards the odd couple – the footballer wearing his Tricolours regalia and the elder statesman often clad in plaid – would then disappear into the toilets for an inordinate amount of time.

When they eventually re-emerged, they did so in the other man’s clothes. Swapped personas too, much to the amusement of those in attendance.

“Craig knew how to mix the fun times with the other periods where you had to be serious and get on with the job,” recalls his former Roosters coach Ricky Stuart.

They are traits that will hold him in good stead for what comes next. Whether Fitzgibbon retains his sense of humour, without ageing prematurely, now he is coach of the Cronulla Sharks remains to be seen. Yet when you speak to those who know him best, there’s a belief no man enters the cut-throat clipboard-holder ranks more qualified.

During his decade as an assistant at his beloved Roosters, “Fitzy” has largely been credited with building the “Bondi Wall”. However, the most important education may have been instilled much earlier.

“He’s had an apprenticeship since he was in his father’s arms,” Stuart says in reference to Fitzgibbon’s father, Allan, who also coached the Sharks more than three decades ago.

“Allan is a wonderful man and Craig would have grown up through a change room. You don’t get much better apprenticeship than that, it doesn’t just happen overnight.

“You only had to look at his bloodlines to know Craig was going to be involved in the game somewhere or somehow.”

Cronulla coach Craig Fitzgibbon is tipped to succeed in his new role.

There were opportunities to become a head coach well before he accepted Cronulla’s three-year deal. The reputation he garnered as the right-hand man of Roosters coach Trent Robinson and NSW Blues mentor Brad Fittler made him a man in demand.

The Warriors, Knights, Cowboys and Dragons made approaches, with the multi-year deal from the Red V said to be in the vicinity of $2 million. Out of loyalty to the Roosters, he knocked everyone back until his contractual commitments were completed.

“His ethics are right and that’s all that matters,” says Allan Fitzgibbon.

Regardless, the approaches represent an extraordinary show of a faith in a man yet to stick his head into the furnace that is head coaching in the NRL. No one knows if they are ready for the challenge until it is thrust upon them, particularly that dark and inevitable period that comes with three or four consecutive losses.

Will Fitzgibbon still be able to be true to himself, and the principles he believes in, when the team is losing and his job is on the line?

“He is as sure as I have seen any person in their character as a person,” says Roosters coach Trent Robinson.

“He doesn’t have to shift into someone different, he doesn’t have to create a character to become a head coach.

“The thing is, Fitz is aware of what’s coming. He won’t be immune to what’s coming, you can’t be immune to it.

“But he knows what’s coming and he’s as ready as anyone has ever been to face that. It won’t make it any less difficult, but he knows what is ahead of him.”

New sheriff in the Shire

John Morris was a popular figure in the Sutherland Shire. He was Cronulla’s coach at a difficult time, facing challenges as varied as injuries, salary cap dramas, the Bronson Xerri drugs saga and the unavailability of Cronulla’s home ground. Despite it all, he made the finals two years in a row.

It is a measure of the ambition of his employers that they sacked Morris anyway. It took the signing of Fitzgibbon to placate the Sharks faithful after the club had unsuccessfully attempted to poach Craig Bellamy.

For some, the signing of a rookie coach is a leap of faith. But as far as Fittler is concerned, Cronulla should have shown more.

“If I’m the Sharks, I’m thinking 10 years, not two or three years,” Fittler says.

“He’s just going to get better and better … I see him as a long-time coach of the Sharks.”

“He’s just going to get better and better. The more you invest in him, the more you’ll get as a club. Everyone is very shortsighted.

“I see him as a long-time coach of the Sharks.”

Few know Fitzgibbon better than Fittler.

They defended side by side for five years during their playing days at the Roosters, making four grand final appearances during that period. “Freddy” then coached Fitzgibbon at the end of the representative forward’s illustrious playing career, when success was less regular.

During those last days of his Roosters stint, Fitzgibbon played injured, on an ankle that would have sidelined a lesser man, often carting the ball up as a prop rather than in his customary back-row spot.

“Took some knocks at the end,” Fittler says.

“It didn’t finish as well as it started. He never complained. [He just] got on with it. It says a fair bit about the bloke.”

When Fittler coached the Blues, the pair reunited, with Fitzgibbon as his assistant. By the end of last year’s Origin series, another victorious one for NSW, it was hard to tell who was running the show.

“Well, he pretty much did the majority of the coaching,” Fittler says. “A lot of the training, he was doing a lot of the talking.”

Craig Fitzgibbon during his time as Roosters assistant coach.Credit:NRL Photos

Talking about himself, however, isn’t Fitzgibbon’s style. The 44-year-old sat down with the Sydney Morning Herald & The Age, but didn’t want to go on the record for fear of putting the focus on himself rather than the club. It’s another trait he picked up from his father.

“He’s always said it’s not about him, it’s about what he’s doing at the club he’s at,” Allan says.
“That sells itself.”

Which is why it is left to others to paint a picture of the new sheriff in the Shire.

Nick Politis, the powerful Roosters chairman who values loyalty above all else, reckons “you couldn’t get a more dedicated or loyal person as a coach or player”.

This from Luke Ricketson, the man who handed Fitzgibbon his Roosters life membership last year: “I don’t think I’ve ever played with a bigger big-game player in my career.

“I don’t think that flame burns out when you get to coaching.”

Another former teammate, Anthony Minichiello adds: “He’s a deep thinker and developed into an amazing coach. “I reckon he will be very successful.”

Discipline personified

Even in his playing days, Fitzgibbon was touted as a coach-in-waiting. The man himself, however, wasn’t convinced.

In those final seasons in the Roosters engine room, he had regular chats with his neighbour, the club’s long-time chief executive Brian Canavan, about preparing for what’s next. Staying involved in rugby league was always a focus, but not as a coach.

“I had many conversations with him about going into the management side of football, à la a football manager,” Canavan recalls.

“Footy manager? Maybe, but I always knew there was a lot of coach in him if that’s what he wanted to do.

“He would say to me ‘I’m not going through what coaches do’.”

It was clear Fitzgibbon would succeed in whichever endeavour he turned his attention to. No one outworked him as a player and nothing will change with the clipboard.

Craig Fitzgibbon calls the shots at Blues training.Credit:NRL Photos

“He was a player I really enjoyed coaching because you knew you had his full commitment every day of the week,” Stuart says.

“That’s what he will take into his coaching. I know he will build a wonderful environment around his football team.”

The Roosters coaching staff are often in the office by 6am. During his time as an assistant, Fitzgibbon’s alarm clock rang much earlier so he could make the long trek from Coledale on the Illawarra coastline and still hit the beach beforehand.

“Surfing is a big part of his life, that’s his meditation,” Robinson says. “Sometimes he was in at 6am, but the thing is he always got up around 4am. That was part of his discipline.

“Not once in a decade did I hear him complain about the travel, not once. The discipline, he found joy in that.”

As a player, Fitzgibbon gave every fibre of his being for the Roosters. Their veteran trainer, Ronnie Palmer, reckons there’s a memorable Fitzgibbon play that tells you everything you need to know about the man.

It’s the 2002 semi-final against premiers Newcastle, the scores are level, but the Roosters are under the pump when Knights playmaker Sean Rudder streaks downfield.

The Roosters back-rower is part of the cover defence that converges, but doesn’t quite have the pace to mow Rudder down, who is instead felled by Minichiello.

The Knights waste a tackle trying to burrow over from short range and then spin the ball from the blind side to the open, knowing the opposition defence is gassed. Somehow, Fitzgibbon finds the energy to rush out of the line, snare an intercept and then begin the long trek upfield.

“He was never the fastest bloke, but had a never-say-die attitude,” Palmer says.

“After chasing in defence, he sprinted up the field 90 metres and scored.

“That was one of the best feats I’ve ever seen any player do. It was amazing.”

Newcastle can’t recover and the moment effectively ends their title defence. A week later, the Roosters hold the trophy aloft and Fitzgibbon is crowned the Clive Churchill medallist. Only time will tell whether premiership success as a coach follows. If his curriculum vitae and pedigree are any indication, he might be wearing an old man’s clothes by the time he hands back the clipboard.

“His energy in a coaching office, he would have the clarity and fire of a player but he’d also be the one to lighten the mood,” Robinson says. “He made everyone feel welcome. I’ve got no doubt he’s done that over there [in Cronulla].

“He’s a special person. He’s ready to go.”

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