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Episode 159 - Craig Fitzgibbon


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In this podcast

2:30 – Welcome Craig Fitzgibbon

3:06 – Coaching and growing up as Alan Fitzgibbon’s son

9:00 – Learning from Trent Robinson

10:15 – How he got the defensive coach role and the philosophies behind it

13:28 – Dealing with pressure and building trust within the team

16:09 – The 2018 grand final and planning for Cooper Cronk’s injury

22:23 – Growing up in Dapto and as the Sharks ball boy

23:26 – Coming through the junior grades

25:06 – Becoming a stats player and going away from this

26:47 – Illawarra Steelers junior reps

27:42 – Super League and his ARL contract

33:00 – Funny story from his first grade debut

35:51 – 1998 and the Steelers young guns

36:03 – His father in laws multi bet

38:15 – Making the St George Illawarra Dragons merger

40:57 – Playing with Mundine & Blacklock

43:00 – Getting dropped prior to 99 semi-final series

43:41 – 1999 grand final week

44:49 – First try in the grand final

45:45 – Thoughts after losing two grand finals early

47:12 – Why he left the Dragons for the Roosters

49:22 – Signing with Roosters

50:00 – Meeting Nick Politis

51:45 – Winning a Clive Churchill medal

53:04 – 2002 grand final and the Villasanti moment

56:25 – Kangaroo Tour

58:20 – Nerves and Origin debuts

59:10 – The three types of fear

1:04:08 – Origin coaching and walking through the new tunnel

1:05:52 – Getting the captaincy at the Roosters

1:08:15 – Moving to the Hull and the English Super League

1:11:28 – Favourite goal he kicked or try he scored

1:12:45 – Goal kicking

1:13:55 – Favourite venue away from the SFS

1:14:48 – Best and worst rig

1:17:22 – Freak trainers at the Roosters

1:18:18 – 5 people he would invite to private dinner party

CRAIG FITZGIBBON

Craig Fitzgibbon is a legend of the NRL, playing 263 first games. He debut at the Illawarra Steelers but spent the majority of his career at the Sydney Roosters winning a grand final in 2002 where he was also awarded the Clive Churchill medal. He spent two years in England playing 44 games from Hull. His distinguished rep career includes 18 test matches for Australia and 11 State of Origins for NSW. Post footy he is still one of the integral parts of the Roosters as an assistant coach to Trent Robinson.

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Related Episodes - Episode 132: Steve Menzies | Episode 156: Cameron Murray |

Episode 150: Denan Kemp | Episode 155: Christian Welch

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