NSW Blues vs QLD Maroons updates, results, videos, highlights and latest news; Brad Fittler’s sympathy for Slater amid coaching ‘nightmare’; Phil Gould whacks ‘toxic, childish’ pre-game stink

Brad Fittler has opened up on the pressures of coaching after an Origin loss.

Footage from the Maroons shed after game one captured a flat looking Billy Slater trying to wrap his head around what had just happened at Suncorp Stadium.

Speaking on Nine’s Freddy and the Eighth, Fittler said the pressures of the job were constant.

“You’re non-stop thinking and you can see him there thinking,” he said as footage of Slater played.

“That reaction, he most likely had an idea of how the game would’ve unfolded, and would’ve been disappointed.”

Andrew Johns recalled working with him during his final year as Blues coach in 2023.

“We’d be doing the Footy show, we’d be talking and you would just be staring into space,” he said.

Slater and Fittler often appeared on the show together while both were coaches of their respective states. He said those days were “a good nightmare”.

“It was very interesting. It’s a lot to take in, especially when we’re both competing, and then we’re going off to the team,” Fittler said.

“You’re thinking about body language, your mind is just racing too much … it’s a good nightmare. You don’t get that if you don’t have a go.”