His milestone came on the club’s biggest day of the year – their Memorial Day – while the Central West Rugby Union also staged an Indigenous round.

Fitzsimmons had a role in designing Bulldogs’ special Indigenous jumpers and organising pre-match performances, which included himself playing the didgeridoo.

“It was very special, I’ve played in front of a lot of these people before, but to have the Stannies boys come down – my old school – and all the primary schools come down, which I do for work, it meant a lot to see them get involved in rugby when we haven’t seen a lot of involvement from Indigenous people in the past,” he said.

On top of that, when it came to the match itself, the Bulldogs managed to defeat the competition leading Orange Emus 39-35.

It was not only the first time Emus had suffered a round-game defeat since falling 28-12 to Forbes in the penultimate round of 2016, but ended Bulldogs’ run of losses to the greens after nine consecutive defeats.

Fitzsimmons was impressive for the victors as he tackled hard, toiled at the breakdown and scrum, and at one stage backed up a break from winger Ben Sheppeard which led to a try.

He kept his emotions in check until the final whistle was blown.

“We spoke on it during the week. Memorial Day is always an emotional day and especially for me the Indigenous round on top of that meant a lot. We just had to clear our heads after the official stuff and play some football,” he said.

“I couldn’t have imagined anything better than that, no way, that’s the best result anyone could imagine and what a game – far out!”

While Emus remain on top of the competition ladder – seven points clear of Bulldogs – Fitzsimmons pointed out the Bathurst outfit displayed important belief and fighting qualities in their win.

That will serve them well for the rugby which lies ahead.

“We spoke about belief throughout the week, belief that we could do it, belief that we could get the job done, belief in our systems and I think everyone out there had belief today,” he said.

“We just had to keep turning up. We knew it wasn’t going to be a straight forward win, we knew it wouldn’t be an easy one and we knew we weren’t going to be a long way ahead, but once we got in the fight we stayed in the fight for 80 minutes.

“That’s what it was - it came down to the last scrum in the last minute.”

As for what his rugby future will entail – Fitzsimmons can’t imagine playing for any club other than his beloved Bathurst Bulldogs.

“I’m so proud – I spoke to some people before the game and there are less people than I thought who have played 100 games. I just love the place and I don’t see myself going away anytime soon,” he said.

“I’ll just keep turning up, I love it so much.

“I means a heap to me, I came to this club as a 20-year-old … now I’ve played 100 games in first grade and played with some good mates.”