Freddy

there have been few better players in the game of Rugby League than Brad 'Freddy' Fittler. He's the boy from a broken home in Sydney's welfare wasteland who pulled himself up by his football bootlaces to captain his State and his country. Fittler, who retired after 16 seasons and almost 450 games at the very highest level, never forgot where he came from. He retained the same larrikin good nature that endeared him to his mates in his days at the Penrith club, which he helped win its first premiership. Later, with the silvertails of the eastern suburbs, he took part in another premiership win. He captained NSW to State of Origin victory and made a celebrated comeback to the Blues. Fittler's rise is much more than a sports story. It examines the issues that divide Australia. Like few others, he's straddled that divide. Drugs and beer and wild parties punctuated his youth. there was the tragedy of the death of one of his closest mates; the Super league saga; his own drunken episode outside a Sydney police station; being jailed in Mexico; the narrow escape from a woman out to get him; the male stalker - all these stories and more are told with characteristic honesty. It's a story that will make you laugh and make you cry. It offers a rare insight into the workings of some of Australia's best sporting teams.