The three times World Cup winning former Kangaroos captain has implored members of his coaching staff and the team’s Australian-based players - headed by Farah and fellow NRL stars Tim Mannah, Michael Lichaa and Mitchell Moses - to do the same.
“You know Freddy,” Farah said at Lebanon’s World Cup jersey launch on Tuesday. “He is passionate, he is excited and anything he puts his mind to he gives 100 per cent.
Assistant coach Luke Burt said Fittler wanted everyone associated with the squad to know the words to the Lebanon national anthem.
“He has told me he is listening to the national anthem in his car and learning that so on game day he is ready to go,” Burt said. “He has told me I have to learn it as well so I have to keep working on it.”
Fittler has also instructed Burt to research the ability and form of the 25 players from the NSW Cup and Ron Massey Cup competitions named recently in a preliminary World Cup squad.
Another six players play in the Lebanon domestic competition.
“There is potential there and with these guys around them we think they can really step up to the plate,” Burt said. “There are three games in the pool round and if they can rip in it will be good.
“The Lebanese community has been very supportive and as you can see by our sponsors we have got a lot of backing so it is really, really good and there are bright prospects for the future.
“I hope for the whole three matches we get the Lebanese community to come out and support us and the boys will respond to that. The more people we can get to the games the better.”
Farah said fans could be confident the Cedars would give their best under Fittler, with whom he has worked in NSW and City Origin teams since 2012.
“Freddy has been a massive help to me, he has always been somebody that I turn to for some advice or assistance if things aren’t going well and I need to talk to someone,” Farah said.
“I still remember the camp we had in 2012 with City Origin, it is probably the best camp I have been involved in and that spring boarded me backed into the Origin side, which I hadn’t been a part of for two years.
“I put a lot of that down to Freddy and the advice he gave me so when Lebanon Rugby League approached me to help find them a coach he was one of the first names I thought of.
“The times I had with him in City Origin have honestly been some of the best times I have had in a camp environment so it will be fun, there will be some weird stuff, he likes his yoga and his mind training all sorts of different things but at the same time we will work hard.
“The one thing about Freddy is that we are there to win and we are there to work hard.”
By Brad Walter | @BradWalterSport
Chief Correspondent, RLWC2017
