He had a world champion boxer in his corner when he went to Vegas to take on the Cowboys, but Bradman Best’s inner circle has scaled down for his return to the Origin arena.
July is shaping up to be a high-stakes month for the Best-Fenech clan.
The next 30 days will see Bradman stepping onto the turf at Suncorp Stadium for a do-or-die State of Origin Game III decider.
It ends with his future father-in-law, boxing legend Jeff Fenech, coaching former world champion Tim Tszyu in the biggest fight of his life against American powerhouse Errol Spence Jr.
With fight preparations ramping up, Jeff has been a late scratching from the Fenech trip to Brisbane, forced to anchor himself to Sydney, missing his future son-in-law’s Origin return.
“I’d love to be there. But all these things that are happening are just all around the same time,” Fenech said.
“I’ll be locked to this TV.”
TRIP TO BRISBANE
While Jeff watches from afar, the Fenech legacy will still be on the ground in Brisbane.
Best’s fiancee, Kayla Fenech, is making the trek north alongside their seven-month-old daughter, Kaliyah.
While being in the stands at Suncorp Stadium on Wednesday was a non-negotiable, Kayla knows her father is devastated to miss the milestone — wishing he could take his explosive coaching energy from the lounge room straight to the sideline.
“I can guarantee he will be screaming at the TV like he does with every other game Bradman plays, so it’ll be funny,” Kayla said.
When touching down in Brisbane on Tuesday, Kayla will link up with Best’s extended family, who all live in Queensland.
Including Bradman’s dad, Roger, a diehard Maroons fan who is expected to proudly wear a Queensland jersey to the decider.
Roger is getting the best of both worlds, happy no matter the result of the 80 minutes.
But ahead of kick-off, he has a much more important role to play: protective grandfather.
Facing the notoriously hostile cauldron of a Suncorp decider, Kayla tossed and turned over whether it was safe to bring her child to the game.
“I’m really nervous, but I mean I’ve got his whole family there to help me and I just couldn’t not bring her,” Kayla said.
“Like, for Bradman to come off the field and see his daughter there, it’s going to mean the world to him, so she has to be there for him.
“I haven’t really experienced anything like it before, but his dad is a Queenslander, so usually he will rock up to the games in a Queensland jersey, but he can protect us.”
As for Bradman, he isn’t ruling out the chaotic nature of his clan crossing paths with passionate Queenslanders on the way to the stadium.
Even without Jeff there to back them up.
“Hopefully no punch-ons, but who knows with my family, you never know,” Best said.
THE SECRET WEAPON
While baby Kaliyah is far too young to comprehend the madness of Wednesday night, her mere presence might just be the Blues’ secret weapon.
Game day for Best is intentionally centred around his daughter; a family ritual has attached itself to the little girl being there to watch her dad play.
“Before he goes and plays he spends a bit of time with us and especially with her,” Kayla said.
“She makes him play better, whenever she’s there.”
It has been a long, gruelling road back to the Origin stage for Best, whose representative career has frequently been derailed by injuries.
After missing massive chunks of the first half of the season, Best admitted he had almost given up hope of wearing the Sky Blue jersey this year.
But out of that dark injury stretch came a profound silver lining: the chance to fully immerse himself in early fatherhood.
“Obviously, rugby league, it’s a roller coaster. So, when I was injured there, I got to enjoy a bit of down time with Kayla and bub there, which made it special,” Best said.
“It was going so quick and she was changing every day, and because of the injury I got to see it which was special.”
BIG BATTLES
The reward for that resilience came on Sunday night.
Best was sitting with Kayla and Kaliyah at a club function following Newcastle’s victory over the Tigers when his phone lit up with the name: Laurie Daley.
It was a milestone moment Best hadn’t yet been able to share with his young family.
When he last played Origin in 2024, it was the absolute infancy of his and Kayla’s relationship.
Back then, she only got a taste of the game day atmosphere; this time, she’s experiencing the full ride.
“That was early on, she got to experience the game, and she will get to experience the whole build up this time,” Best said.
The downtime afforded by his earlier injury also provided the perfect window for Best to execute another high-stakes plan: proposing to Kayla.
The self-proclaimed romantic orchestrated an elaborate surprise at a winery in the Hunter Valley where the pair first met.
Bradman thought he had covered his tracks perfectly, but Kayla claims he left one glaring, dead-giveaway hint.
“I had the idea. I wanted to take it out to Hunter Valley, that’s where we first met, so I thought I’d go back there, and that was what I was thinking,” Bradman said.
Kayla recalled the moment: “He literally told me on the day, ‘Make sure you go get your nails done today,’ and I was like, ‘Oh yeah?’
“I go, ‘That’s just given it pretty much gave it away, really.‘”
UNLEASHING THE ANIMAL
With his personal life locked in and his injury woes hopefully behind him, Best has his eyes firmly set on an Origin decider victory in Brisbane.
But to get the job done at Suncorp, his future father-in-law has delivered some uncompromising, old-school tough love.
Jeff’s message to Best is clear: park the gentle family-man persona at the stadium gates and unleash the absolute beast within.
“I’ve seen him as a person, he’s a great guy. We need him to turn from the great guy into a great animal on the field,” Jeff said.
“He’s got to turn that switch off from being the beautiful guy that he is, and turn into being, somebody who wants to do anything and everything to win.
“Before he went to camp, I just told him how much more he’s got to expect from himself.
“I said, ‘Listen, it’s about pushing yourself to the limit. It’s about taking risks. There’s no reward without risk’.
“If you don’t do nothing, how do you get rewarded? I mean, there’s no courage without fear.”
Originally published as Unleash the animal: Jeff Fenech’s Origin advice for son-in-law Bradman Best