The NSWRL, in what can only be considered a rare move of late, has signed Brad Fittler on to coach the Blues for the 2018 and 2019 campaigns. The front-runner from the moment the axe fell on Laurie Daley, Fittler won the job ahead of more seasoned club coaches Michael Maguire, John Cartwright and David Furner.

The Blues hierarchy have been crippled by indecisiveness in recent years: Laurie Daley kept the job too long; Bob Fulton’s influence on selection for many years was too great yet curbed far too late; little was done regarding player discipline; the right types of players weren’t nurtured.

The hiring of Fittler though strikes as a line in the sand for those south of the Tweed. It is a commitment to passion, to heart, to the idea that Origin football is more than game plans and tactics and individual talent. His hiring is a major departure from the Daley years. It is the off-ramp the Blues desperately needed.

Fittler, arguably, was the first and only New South Welshman born in the cauldron of State of Origin football. He made his debut as a teenager. He arrived a boy but left a man. He handled a mean and experienced Queensland team full of legends and gravitas but longer lasting was the nickname “Freddy” that has stuck, bestowed by the incomparable Jack Gibson.

Over the next 15 seasons, Fittler would rise to become arguably the greatest Blues player of all time. No player would wear the blue jersey more. He would take the captaincy duties in 1994 and lead the Blues in 17 matches over the next eight seasons. His comeback in 2004 proved one of the great fairytales in Origin history.

He endured the lousiness of defeat and the struggles of battle and he lapped up the juices of success and enjoyed the respect of victory. If one person is New South Wales Rugby League, it is Brad Fittler.

The knock on Fittler’s application for the job is his coaching resume, but those doing the knocking both miss the point and don’t understand the quality in the body of work Fittler has put together.

Sure, Fittler’s three-season stint at the Roosters was marked by a lack of success and a bigger lack of discipline. But club records mean little in Origin. Just look at Mal Meninga. His time at Canberra was mediocre at best. He has turned into one of the great representative coaches rugby league has ever known. The reason is simple: the grind of coaching a club 12 months of the year is a very different job to the pressure of getting a team of stars ready for three big games.

And Fittler has proven himself at rep level. The long-standing City coach has lost just two of six City-Country matches, an incredible effort when the game itself is set up for Country to win. His work with Lebanon this World Cup should not be underestimated either. Fittler got the gig late when Ivan Cleary signed with the Tigers. He had just four regular first graders. Yet the Cedars played with great passion. They defeated France, they pushed England, they didn’t disgrace themselves against Australia and they nearly rolled tournament darlings Tonga.

What NSW need – and have needed for a long time – is a coach who the players both love and respect. One is not enough. They need to believe that letting him down is not an option, that selfishness will not be tolerated.

Fittler may be viewed as the larrikin but he is a deeply competitive personality who thinks intellectually about the game. He is not going to be the walkover Daley was. There will be no latitude given. Passion is what drives him and he will not accept anything short of 100% commitment.

The Blues may not win immediately under Fittler but with him in charge they will at least be heading in the right direction.