Fittler shares lasting memory of Paul Green

Margie McDonald

Brydens Lawyers NSW Blues coach Brad Fittler is in awe of his former Roosters teammate Paul Green for many things on and off the football field, but one sticks out in his mind.

Everyone remembers Green, who passed away suddenly at age 49 this week, as the man who brought a maiden NRL Premiership to the Cowboys in 2015 – a 17-16 win over the Broncos in golden point off the boot of Johnathan Thurston.

But after losing the 2016 Preliminary Final to Cronulla, the Cowboys’ 2017 campaign was thrown into disarray when Thurston suffered a season-ending shoulder injury in June.

The Cowboys squeezed into the top-eight by just one win but then made a sensational run to the NRL Grand Final against Storm.

"Everyone is going to remember the year (Cowboys) won, but I thought 2017 was one of the greatest coaching efforts ever," Fittler said on Nine’s Wide World of Sports segment, Freddy and the Eighth.

"Bringing that team through, watching Michael Morgan and (Jason) Taumalolo drag that team to a final… it was magic."

Fittler played with Green during the 2001-2002 seasons at the Roosters. The Bondi Junction club claimed the NRL premiership under coach Ricky Stuart in 2002 but Green couldn’t be a part of it because of an injury.

"I saw him earlier this year at the (Roosters) 2002 (premiership) reunion,” Fittler said. 

“Greeny would have been the halfback, but he did his knee in the first game in the year we won the comp.

"He did some great things as a player, a very intelligent player. He's not a big bloke so pretty courageous.

"Away from footy (he was a) good fella, great fun, great company. He's going to be sorely missed."

True Blue Ricky Stuart and Green do share a piece of history, when it comes to major player awards and coaching success.

Green won the 1995 Rothmans Medal, while Stuart won it in 1993, and Fittler in 1997. 

The medal was for the NSWRL’s best player before it was renamed the Provan-Summons Medal in 1998 becoming the “People’s Choice”award.

Green and Stuart then went on to win NRL Premiership trophies as head coaches – the only two to do so.