It’s kind of a pity the Scott Sattler try-saving tackle on Todd Byrne always hogs the spotlight on a fantastic all-round game, hey?

The fact Toddy slipped didn’t help him ... I won’t take any shine away from Satts’ moment in the sun though ...

Fellow players called you a great leader, but you had that laddish, laid-back rep, too. How did you cover all those bases?

You are who you are, really. It’s as simple as that. You then have to fine-tune that person to whatever role, whether it’s leadership ... There were definitely some things I had

to change, so I don’t think being laid-back affects your leadership, I just think you have to make sure you’re on top of other things. Stuff around training ...

What keeps you busy these days?

Two children. My world very much revolves around them at the moment. My job allows me to do that, allows me to spend more time with them. The one gripe you hear from everyone is that they wish they could spend more time with their kids ... You won’t hear that gripe from me. I’ll get busy over the next couple of years, I’ll say. Generally though, yeah, it’s the TV. I enjoy this book stuff, so we’ll move to multi-platform that ... and just have a go.

Fittler was the youngest- ever NSW rep ... He’d go on to play in 31 Origins. Image: Getty Images

Are you involved in any official capacity with the so-called turf-war going on between league and AFL in western Sydney?

Nup. I was involved in trying to initiate an introduction-to-footy-type project out of western Sydney, focussing on the way kids are initiated to rugby league. I have a real passion about that, actually. I don’t think we do a very good job there. We don’t use our imagination at all. We’re stuck in a time warp, I think: Take your kid, ask him if he wants to play footy. He doesn’t touch the ball, doesn’t make a tackle, and then you ask him if he’s had a good day. It’s disgraceful. If I had my way, the days would be like carnivals: have all the kids there, they’d train, do skill development, then play games with limited rules, take the winning and losing out. I work with the PCYC. They come and take the parents away from the games – who can be a nightmare – and take them to their own exercises. Each week it would be a community morning. But the league found a way to not support it. We had networks support it, Former Origin Greats, the PCYC, but the league found a way to do as little as possible.

Is league really under threat from AFL in western Sydney?

Depends what you mean by “under threat”. It all depends what they do with their money. They need to use their imagination. They need to know what all the problems are. The one thing I do do is support our game. The game is played on so many different levels. You can play touch footy, you can play tag ... Why the game doesn’t own all them, why they’re not under the NRL banner is ... I play a game called “Speed League”. It’s played in PCYCs. It’s yet another form of the game; throwing the ball forward, etc. You play it on basketball courts. Passing, catching, scoring over a try line. It’s a good game. A lot of the clubs haven’t played it. The PCYC doesn’t have much money either, so it’s a long process. As an ambassador, we’re trying to get more of those games played at the Parramattas, at the big NRL games, bringing in kids from the bush to play. There’s about 60-odd Police Boys clubs ...

It’s the same kind of thing getting funding for that is almost impossible. The PCYC runs good centres. The one I’m involved with, Woolloomooloo, they’ve very passionate, the people who work there. I don’t know why more kids don’t use PCYCs, instead of sitting on their fat arses playing video games ...