Should Brad Fittler pick Fifita for NSW? Absolutely

On the Saturday morning before last years deciding State of Origin match, Andrew Fifita met with NSW coach Laurie Daley. He wanted out.

Contrary to reports that would later emerge, it had nothing to do with Daleys plan to shift Fifita to the bench and instead start David Klemmer against Queensland at Suncorp Stadium.

Daley had told only Klemmer about the positional shift. He hadnt got around to telling Fifita by the time Fifita sat down with him on that Saturday morning.

No, what Fifita was angry about — to the point of tears — was the lack of respect he thought he was being shown.

He didn't like that he'd been banned from talking to the media since his remarks after game two openly criticising the NSWRL for using The Star as the Blues team hotel. And he didn't like that Blues adviser Peter Sterling had taken aim at him for calling out Maroons firebrand Josh McGuire for sledging him after the game two loss.

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Fifita wasnt angry with his teammates. He was angry with the “hierarchy”, whoever that might possibly be.

Ultimately, Daley talked him into staying. If the so-called hierarchy didn't want him, why had he been selected in the first place?

He was so concerned about Fifitas headspace that he decided not to move him to the bench. Instead, he told Klemmer the switch was off and Fifita would start.

That afternoon, Fifita was running around training like a kid in the park and looking nothing like the senior player who hours earlier had wanted to pack his bags and fly back to Sydney. Daley and coaching staff looked at each other, stunned.

Theres Andrew Fifita, right there: the most fascinating and frustrating player in the NRL; a 120-kilogram wrecking ball of contradiction and confusion.

Is he worth the risk for new Blues coach Brad Fittler, even though Fifita can only play in game one and three because he's committed to Tonga, who plays against Samoa around the same time as game two?

Abso-expletive-lutely.

In all likelihood, Fittler wont play Fifita for the series opener at the MCG on June 6. As its been described to me, he and his advisors, Greg Alexander and Danny Buderus, are having a “discussion” about the game's form prop. Nothing more.

But Fifita is worth discussing, although don't think too hard because you'll give yourself brain freeze. He streches your emotions in different directions.

He supports one-punch killer Kieran Loveridge and chases and abuses junior referees — but also candidly talks about depression and boldly stands up to racism.

He looks fatter than me — but then you hear stories about him being one of the best performers in the gym, at both the Sharks and Tigers.

He runs at the line, stepping and then busting through and then offloading to support players — but can often get pushed sideways towards touch when smart defences get in his face and cut down his galloping time.

There's no escaping it: Fifita is a gun. He has talent. And hes got heart. It's just difficult to know when he's going to use both of them.

I watched him closely against the Bulldogs at Shark Park on Sunday afternoon. Cronulla coach Shane Flanagan asked him to play the entire half without a break, after he asked him to play 80 minutes without a break the week before.

At one point, around the 20th minute, Fifita looked completely gassed. He was struggling to get back in defence, and he was limping. He looked like he was about to collapse.

Minutes later, he trucked up the ball with four Bulldogs defenders holding on to him for dear life like it was a scene from a cartoon.

Hes been doing that for years, most of it inconsistently, but theres been a change this season. Hes been doing it lately with teammates Paul Gallen, Wade Graham and Luke Lewis missing from the Sharks pack because of injury.

Hes leading the Dally M count with Knights whizkid Kalyn Ponga and what makes that even more remarkable is that Fifita this season is having to play the ball properly.

During the pre-season, NRL referees came to Sharks training to discuss their play-the-ball crackdown, insisting the ball had to be played with the foot, or at least attempted.

Like many players, Fifita had been allowed with increasing regularity to stumble to one knee and roll it between his legs.

According to his Sharks teammates, the referees pinged Fifita time and time again in opposed sessions. The same happened during the trials. But, after 11 rounds, he hasn't given away any penalties for an incorrect play-the-ball.

Theres several arguments why Fifita shouldnt be allowed to play for NSW and they are all valid.

He toyed with the media for weeks about whether he would play for Tonga or the Blues before announcing his decision on a UFC-themed podcast. As one does. Tonga it was.

It wasn't until Fairfax Media asked the question last week that anyone realised he could, under the game's convoluted eligibility rules, play for both.

Theres also the message his selection would send to the rest of the squad. Fittler wants to get rid of the “me first” attitude thats infected recent NSW campaigns. Fifita wants it all. Alas, he cannot.

He's also a risk because you never know which version is going to turn up: the colossus from Origin I last year who played so well he drew comparison with the Immortal Arthur Beetson — or the restless malcontent who threatened to storm out of camp and then barely make a dint in the Queensland defensive line in the decider?

But lets not run away from the fact that Fittler doesnt have the deep pool of big forwards many thought.

Penriths Reagan Campbell-Gillard will be one starting prop, but whos there alongside him now that the Cowboys Jordan McLean is sidelined with injury?

Aaron Woods? He needs to stop running arse-first into the line. Hell be lucky to make the 17. His Bulldogs teammate, David Klemmer, is starting off the bench at the moment, although he's making more of an impact each week.

Trent Merrin is the forgotten big man in Origin discussion. So, too, Ryan James. But none of them bring to the table what Fifita does. Not one. So is he worth, at the very least, a discussion?

Abso-expletive-lutely.

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Chief Sports Writer, The Sydney Morning Herald

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