It never ends. Before you know it, Santa will arrive with his very own view on who should be the NSW halfback. Fittler has been the overwhelming favourite since the series was lost – and before Daley was sacked – but the delay in appointing in him means some on the board are nervous. In other words, they're trying to find a reason not to give it to him. Otherwise, they would've announced him sooner. Even on Wednesday, some directors thought it a no-brainer: give it to Freddy. Others weren't so sure. Normally, these decisions can be declared in advance but nobody was prepared to suggest the job was definitely Fittler's. With the greatest of respect to Maguire – a premiership-winning coach who is out of work after being brutally sacked by Souths – the board has no choice but to give Fittler the job. Throughout this process, he hasn't shied away from how much he wants the position. It's got nothing to do with arrogance and everything to do with heart.

"I've enjoyed having to fight for the job – because I believe in it," he said when contacted on Wednesday. "I have never thought I should get the job just because I want it. The job means too much." Fittler's critics say he is, in rugby league parlance, "too loose" for a role this significant. And it is significant: NSW need to start turning this beat around or interest in Origin will wane. The mischievous and off-beat panellist we see on The Footy Show each Sunday, or down on the sideline giving us zany pre-match weather forecasts, very much betrays his coaching ability and football intelligence. "People who see that side of me definitely have no idea what I'm like when I am coaching," Fittler said. "There's heart in everything I do." He may not have succeeded as an NRL coach during his two full-time seasons at the Roosters – although he wasn't helped by players who undermined him – but as a rep coach he has soared.

For the past six years, players already wearied by the NRL season head into City camp and then come out rejuvenated. Phil Gould handed him five Panthers when Fittler was short of players for this year's final City-Country clash, and they came back and turned their season around. Then there's Lebanon, a team that featured only four regular NRL players with the rest coming from NSW Cup and under-20s, and if not for some bad calls they could've been playing England in Saturday night's semi-final. Much like the City players, each Lebanese player I've spoken to have hailed Fittler's ability to bring the squad together. Captain Robbie Farah reckons the players didn't want to leave New Zealand after the narrow loss to Tonga, so much so they were tempted to book out a Christchurch hotel and stay in each other's company for another night or so.

Meanwhile, it's difficult to consider Maguire as a representative coach, just as it's hard to see Des Hasler in that role, just as Craig Bellamy struggled when he was NSW coach. Bellamy is undoubtedly the most influential coach of the past decade given what he's achieved at the Storm and their enduring success. From 2008-10 as Blues coach, though, he won two from nine matches. Origin is less about football and more about heart. In the first game of the 2008 series, Bellamy instructed his forwards to zero in on Queensland hooker Cameron Smith and the opposition's smaller players. On the greasy surface of ANZ Stadium, the Blues ground down the Queenslanders and won 18-10. As the full-time siren sounded it was clear that this was a coaching mismatch. Bellamy had played counterpart Mal Meninga off a break. Then the Queenslanders came out and won the next two matches to win the series – and then won another four.

Some NSWRL directors also question if Maguire is in it for the long haul, and will abandon the NSW job as soon as the right NRL gig comes along at the right price. Fittler is in it for the long haul, and his career as both player and coach brings him to this very point. He first played in the sky blue jumper as a teenager in 1990. "What's your name?" Blues coach Jack Gibson asked when they first met. "Brad Fittler."