Lebanon skipper Robbie Farah believes Cedars coach Brad Fittler would be the perfect candidate to replace Laurie Daley at the helm of the NSW Blues for next year's State of Origin campaign.
The pair worked worked together in 2012 when City defeated Country 24-22 in Mudgee, and the South Sydney hooker said Fittler's ability to get players to gel in a short space of time would prove crucial as NSW look to end Queensland's stranglehold on the interstate series.
"I'm not here to pick the coach but he'd definitely be in consideration," Farah said at the unveiling of the World Cup's League of Giants at Sydney's Overseas Passenger Terminal.
"He's pretty well credentialed, he understands Origin, he's owned Origin as a player and in my opinion there'd be no better candidate…but I'm not picking the coach.
"I love Fred. He's a character and he's a bit different to everyone else. I think he sees things through a different set of glasses to everyone but I think that's what makes him special and that's what attracts people to him.
"He's really good at getting the best out of people in a short space of time and that's what we're going to need going into this tournament. We're a group of players who have never really played [together] before and we're not going to have much time to train together and prepare so it's important that we come together quickly.
"In my opinion there's no better person than Freddy to do that."
Fittler's left-of-field methods have been well received by his players over the years, and it appears as though his zany ideas are in full swing ahead of Lebanon's opening fixture against France on October 29.
"He's got us doing 50 push-ups a day so he's filming himself doing push-ups and putting it on the WhatsApp group," Farah said.
"Boys have been doing them on job sites, in the bar when they’ve been drinking, so you've just got to do 50 push-ups. I think we started 60 days ago so that's 3000 push-ups he wanted done before the World Cup starts."
Cedars hooker Michael Lichaa played under Fittler in the 2014 City side and is expecting much of the same from the legendary five-eighth.
"He told us that we're going to do a lot of breathing exercises in camp so I'm not sure how that'll go. I'm sure he's going to come up with a few fun things and I'm sure we'll get into a bit of yoga because he's into all of that," Lichaa said.
"Everyone knows what he's like; he's a bit of a laugh but at the same time he's pretty serious. When we're at training, if you do the wrong thing, he's been into us.
"It's going to be a bit of fun and I can't wait."
