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Fittler aiming to make Blues history with fourth series in five years
By
AAP
The term dynasty is often bandied about in sport but with the chance to win their fourth State of Origin series in five years on Wednesday night, Brad Fittler’s NSW side is beginning to shape as one.
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Queensland had their own period of dominance in modern times, boasting eight series wins in a row between 2006 and 2013.
But since Fittler’s ascent to the NSW coaching job in 2018, it has mostly been the team in blue that has lifted the shield.
“Some team is going to come out and want it a bit more than the other,” Fittler said on Tuesday. “It needs to be us.
“It will be (us). I’ve seen the way (the Blues) have trained – I just can’t see any other result.”
The sole series defeat of Fittler’s reign was in 2020 and the Blues are facing similar circumstances on Wednesday night at a sold-out Suncorp Stadium.
That time it was a deciding game in Brisbane and, after captain James Tedesco was knocked out, Queensland went on to pull off one of the great Origin upsets.
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“A lot of them (the Blues players) were there (in 2020),” Fittler said. “It’s not as though we avoid it (as a topic of conversation).
“Players know whether they have done well and whether they’ve done poorly and could’ve done better.”
Knocking over a Maroons side that has won eight of the last nine deciders would also be one of Tedesco’s biggest achievements as captain.
The fullback, who has won back-to-back premierships with the Roosters, has been an ever-present under Fittler and can become just the third NSW captain after Laurie Daley (1994) and Danny Buderus (2005) to win a decider in Brisbane.
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“It’s right up there,” Tedesco said.
“I think especially to captain a Blues team to a winning decider at Suncorp, that’s only happened twice.
“Looking at those teams, there were special players in every one of those teams.
“It’s a part of history I guess, but I don’t think that’s something I’ll look back on until I’ve finished footy. For now, it’s about getting the job done.”
Bookmakers and pundits may be favouring the Blues given the absence of mercurial Queensland five-eighth Cameron Munster (COVID-19), but the list of absentees for the Blues is long.
Considering three cornerstones of Fittler’s Blues era – Tom Trbojevic, Latrell Mitchell and Payne Haas – are all unavailable, the coach could have good reason to complain.
But Fittler said there was no point worrying about who wasn’t on deck on Wednesday night.
“That gets tossed up and you’ve just got to deal with it,” he said.
