Inside the wacky sheds of coach Freddy

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BRAD Fittler, in a quiet corner of the dressing-room, pulls a brand new pair of City socks from their packet.

Maybe for warmth, you guess? Or extra support for that bung right ankle, which he broke on a beach some weeks back.

But, no, sensing The Daily Telegraph looking on in complete bewilderment as he pulls said items on and up beneath his team trackies, the coach lets you in on a little secret.

"Love the feel of new footy socks,'' he grins. "Has to be one of life's greatest little pleasures."

Welcome inside the whacky heartbeat of NSW City.

Brad Fittler kicks back in the City sheds. Picture: Gregg Porteous Source: News Corp Australia

Brad Fittler relaxes in the sheds. Picture: Gregg Porteous Source: News Corp Australia

A world in which the coach wears his footy socks up, rookie Matt Moylan is forever stretching, bouncing and moving ... and prop Andrew Fifita sings whatever chorus beats from beneath those white headphones.

Elsewhere, skipper Ryan Hoffman talks to his players not about the prize, but the process. And Will Hopoate, somewhere beneath his hoodie, meditates like a monk.

City players prepare. Picture: Gregg Porteous Source: News Corp Australia

Andrew Fifta and Adam Reynolds massages. Picture: Gregg Porteous Source: News Corp Australia

Jorge Taufua limbers up. Picture: Gregg Porteous Source: News Corp Australia

All up, a mob that two hours from now — with four minutes to play and some 16 points required — will use a bond no one ever really knew existed to secure one the greatest comebacks in more than 100 years of this contest. Better, you get to see it up close.

Fittler not only gifting The Daily Telegraph unprecedented access to his Dubbo dressing-room, but imposing only one demand.

"People will tell you the story has to be positive,'' he says. "It doesn't have to be positive ... but it has to be interesting."

And with Freddy, how could it be anything but?

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Over five days this week, one of league's greatest has fed tigers, signed flesh, changed lives, bonded players, raised $10,000 for local juniors, even bought himself four llamas from a farmer just out of town.

Another story, however, for another day. For right now you need to know what is going on in the sheds. His sheds.

How in the space of less than a week, Fittler has turned this group — strangers many of them — into the type of unit in which Fifita feels free to sing right up until the final coach's address.

And then, gone is the man who buys llamas and loves the feel of new socks. Replaced by one of league's sharpest minds. A genuine competitor. A coach whose commitment to this group is reciprocated in the silence whenever he speaks.

And so now, Freddy reminds his mob of perennial outsiders how such afternoons are for backing yourself, playing footy. "So don't,'' he says, "just tuck the ball under your arm and run."

Behind him on the white concrete wall, the Kangaroos great has also stuck seven white sheets of paper. Understanding that games are won, not by City schtick, but truths including: Energy At Marker, Kick Pressure and Win First Tackle.

The latter of which he emphasises now.

Brad Fittler revs up his players. Picture: Gregg Porteous Source: News Corp Australia

Brad Fittler's pre-game speech. Picture: Gregg Porteous Source: News Corp Australia

"I remember in this game last year,'' Fittler says, voice rising. "We won nearly every first tackle. But then second tackle, no one was coming off the line. No one was sniffing blood.

"You need to jam in, rip in and dish out some f...en punishment."

All up, Fittler will speak for fewer than four minutes.

Yet still he hits so many key points that you notice assistant Mark Riddell, sitting off to one side, developing what is commonly known among old footballers who take up these gigs as the "footy twitch".

Mark Riddell and Brad Fittler share a laugh. Picture: Gregg Porteous Source: News Corp Australia

And so you watch his left leg bounce nervously. Then, uncontrollably.

Riddell eventually adopting the only possible cure — he stands up.

Indeed, it is a mood that, over the past two hours, has built gradually.

Arriving at Apex Oval bang on 1pm — and with coach Fittler leafing through a Big League magazine — players spend the first 40 minutes rotating through four massage tables in an endless swirl of tattooed limbs.

Rubbed down, taped up, moved on.

Josh Reynolds, Adam Reynolds and Beau Falloon relax. Picture: Gregg Porteous Source: News Corp Australia

Dylan Walker limbers up. Picture: Gregg Porteous Source: News Corp Australia

While some like winger Daniel Tupou sit silently, debutant Moylan is constantly on the move — stretching with his theraband and bouncing footballs. Later told by Riddell and trainer Hayden Knowles "to go and break the record for most support runs".

And we all saw how that turned out, right?

The footy comeback, like the feel of its new socks, among life's great little pleasures.

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