The talented son of rugby league great Brad Fittler will instead carve out the early stages of his professional sporting career in rugby, after signing a two-year deal with NSW Waratahs.
Zach Fittler, who was recently named in Australia's Under 18 development squad, is finishing up Year 12 at The Scots College in Sydney after playing three seasons in the school's First XV.
A hard-running centre or winger, Fittler was chased by both rugby and NRL clubs, but the 18-year-old last week put pen to paper on a two-year elite academy deal with the Waratahs, the Sydney Morning Herald reported.
Fittler recently played in the NSW 2nd XV team that won the Australian Schools Rugby Championship in July and while it was thought he would be snapped up by the Roosters, with whom he played junior rugby league, the youngster has instead opted to join the 15-player game.
"Given Zach's character, attitude and ability, we are very excited for him to continue developing in the NSW Waratahs pathways system for the next two years," Waratahs talent identification manager Andrew Cleverley told the Herald in a statement.
Fittler's signature is a boost for rugby's recruitment programs, with the Waratahs having opted to maintain relationships with junior players who may have an existing contract or link with rugby league.
NRL clubs routinely sign players at younger ages, often sending them to private schools where they then play rugby, as a means of securing their services for the longer term.
That has led some sections of the rugby community to criticize the Waratahs' approach, who still select NRL-contracted juniors in junior representative teams.
But the decision has clearly paid off in Fittler's case.
While the 18-year-old is unlikely to tread the same meteoric path as Max Jorgensen, who left school in 2022 and was on an Australia A tour a few weeks' later, and then made the Wallabies' Rugby World Cup squad 12 months later, Fittler will have the opportunity to train alongside Wallabies players, as well as high-profile NRL convert Joseph Suaali'i, at Daceyville next season.
NSW have been one of the big winners of the Melbourne Rebels' demise, with Wallabies Taniela Tupou, Rob Leota and Darby Lancaster joining Andrew Kellaway, who signed with the Waratahs earlier in the year, in Sydney.
Fittler's most recent on-field action was a high tackle that earned him a red card in Scots' GPS clash with St Ignatius College, for which he later received a one-week suspension.
But he was clear to join up with the wider Australia under 18 development squad, which will be cut down to 26 players for a two-game tour of New Zealand.
Word of Fittler's talent spread when vision of him playing for the Waratahs under 16s against the Reds in 2022 went viral on social media. Coming off the bench for NSW, Fittler trampled a Reds defender on his way to a second-half try.
Brad Fittler remains one of rugby league's all-time greats as a two-time premiership winner with Penrith and later Sydney Roosters. He also played 31 State of Origin games for NSW and 38 Tests for the Kangaroos.