{"id":455030,"date":"2025-06-30T08:28:18","date_gmt":"2025-06-30T08:28:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=455030"},"modified":"2025-06-30T23:16:33","modified_gmt":"2025-06-30T23:16:33","slug":"fittlers-agonising-call-to-pull-out-of-kangaroos-race","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=455030","title":{"rendered":"Fittler's 'agonising' call to pull out of Kangaroos race"},"content":{"rendered":"

Brad Fittler<\/a> has revealed why he decided to opt out of his pursuit of the vacant Kangaroos<\/a> job. <\/p>\n

With Mal Meninga<\/a> headed to the Perth Bears<\/a>, the former NSW Origin<\/a> coach was among the frontrunners for the role.\ufeff<\/p>\n

Speaking exclusively on Wide World of Sports, Fittler said he wished to focus on his media commitments. \ufeff<\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> How bolter 'emerged from the wilderness' before Origin stunner<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> 'Rattled' star late to Blues camp after 'really stupid' error<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> Smith defends batting coach after Healy whack<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Fittler said he "agonised" over the decision to withdraw from the race, but felt it was the right call given his other responsibilities.<\/p>\n

\ufeff"There was an opportunity there, I'm very grateful for them thinking about me, but I think just in the situation I'm in at the moment, my commitments to Channel 9, I work for the NRL, I'm really enjoying that," Fittler told 2GB.<\/p>\n

"When the role came about\ufeff and I just started to think about it and start planning that this is maybe for someone else at the moment.<\/p>\n

"\ufeffIt was an incredible opportunity, but I also didn't think I could do it justice. That's why I didn't want to commit to it.<\/p>\n

"\ufeffBut what an incredible opportunity for someone. I think it's someone with a bit of time. They need to get hotels, grounds, training fields, equipment, everything – it's a big job ahead, but what an awesome experience it is going to be, three Tests over in England."<\/p>\n

Fittler admitted his commitment to the media made his coaching role with the Blues hard to juggle. \ufeff<\/p>\n

"I won't say I won't ever do it again in the future\ufeff. I always found even when I was commentating while I coached the Origin team, it makes it a bit uncomfortable when you're talking about players and then you have to pick players," he said.<\/p>\n

"I just thought that got a bit muddy at stages and wore on my conscience\ufeff at times."<\/p>\n

Cameron Smith and Kevin Walters are expected to be among the candidates pursued by the ARL Commission for the Australian role.<\/p>\n

Fittler said either man would do a "wonderful job", and added he is "absolutely not" closing the door on coaching in the future.<\/p>\n

Australia play England in an Ashes series at the end of the season. \ufeff<\/p>\n

Fittler coached the Blues to Origin series wins in 2018, 2019, and 2021.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Brad Fittler has revealed why he decided to opt out of his pursuit of the vacant Kangaroos job. With Mal Meninga headed to the Perth […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":455032,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/455030"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=455030"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/455030\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":455033,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/455030\/revisions\/455033"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/455032"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=455030"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=455030"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=455030"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}