Why commentary legend Fatty Vautin won't return to the microphone
For the first time in three decades, Paul 'Fatty' Vautin watched State of Origin from the comfort of his couch, casting aside an illustrious tenure as one of rugby league's most endearing media personalities.
But when asked if he would miss the aura, the feeling of calling one of sport's greatest spectacles, he revealed his final season on the microphone told him he would not.
Why? Because the former Queensland Maroons coach was unsure at times what he was analysing.
'After 33 years, I thought last year was the perfect time to finish up. I didn't want to turn into the crusty old bloke on the panel who's always talking about how it was better in the '80s – and it was better in the '80s,' Vautin said.
'But at the moment, with the way the rules are going, everyone is confused. One week they're targeting head-highs, the next week they're targeting play the balls, the following week it's something else.
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'I really feel for the referees, I feel they're a bit confused. They're just doing their best.'
Officiating is far from blame for the Queensland Maroons' loss in game one of the 2025 series. Their ill-discipline at times plagued them, some cheap penalties from Tino Fa'asuamaleaui, Pat Carrigan and Harry Grant carting the Blues down field too frequently.
NSW didn't need much help in that area, running for 124 more post-contact metres and 30 more tackle busts than their rivals courtesy of a dominant forward pack, while wingers Brian To'o and Zac Lomax passed 200 metres each to get their sets flowing.
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Herald Sun
33 minutes ago
- Herald Sun
‘Something's not right': Laurie Daley's blunt admission as NSW rage over brutal penalty count
Blues coach Laurie Daley and captain Isaah Yeo have expressed frustration at a lopsided penalty count in NSW's 26-24 loss to Queensland in Perth. NSW were on the wrong end of a 10-2 penalty count that was eight to nil in the first half. It sparked a furious reaction from pundits who criticised referee Ashley Klein's officiating of the match. FOX LEAGUE, available on Kayo Sports, is the only place to watch every game of every round in the 2025 NRL Telstra Premiership, LIVE with no ad-breaks during play. New to Kayo? Get your first month for just $1. Limited-time offer. Daley was blunt when asked what he thought of the penalty count. 'I can't tell you what I honestly think, so I'm not going to,' Daley said. Yeo, meanwhile, admitted the Blues were at fault for a number of penalties but believed they were on the wrong end of a host of 50/50 calls. 'There's certainly a few that we were shooting ourselves in the foot with and they were just penalties,' Yeo said. 'Other ones are 50-50. Some nights you get them, some nights you don't. So what you can't do is you can't go drop the ball early in the next set early in the tackle count when you've got the ball. 'So obviously I'd like that to be a bit more even, but we were our own worst enemy at times as well.' The Blues also disagreed with the decision to place Blues half Jarome Luai on report for a suspected eye-gouge. 'I thought it was a facial, I didn't see it up in the footage,' Yeo said. 'They put him on the report, but he didn't say why. I thought it was a face shot, so I thought there was a fair few of those in the game.' 'We saw a fair few of them in game one too,' Daley added. Yeo, however, admitted the Blues were their own worst enemy in a performance littered with ill-discipline. 'We just couldn't get out of our own way at the time, and they had all momentum,' he said. 'We probably had momentum through the middle of the field in that second half, but you can't do that to a pack like that. 'We just compounded too much. We would finally get the ball back, and we'd drop the ball early. You just can't miss the jump like this.' Isaah Yeo and Laurie Daley didn't say much, but said it all. Daley said ultimately the Blues did not deserve to win. 'It certainly was a rollercoaster, we just let ourselves down in the first half,' Daley said. 'I just think we just missed the jump with just like completion. 'Like, it really was just errors and penalties, and just compounded, and we just made it really hard for ourselves. 'We showed what we are capable of doing in the second half, but you can't play a half like that against a quality opposition and expect to be close. 'It was a good lesson. Go back to the drawing board, prepare well and go back to Sydney. It's one-all, so we will see how we go in game three. 'I think when we look at the video we will see opportunities, but I think we created, I think five tries to four, but I just get back to discipline, completions. 'We were nowhere near the mark in the first 40, so that was disappointing, but I was proud of them, obviously in the second half. 'They dug deep and showed everyone what they're capable of doing, but you've got to go two halves. You know, it's an old cliche, but it's true.' Daley also paid tribute to the Maroons and said the criticism of Queensland went too far during the week 'We knew what we were going to come against and they delivered,' Daley said. 'And the amount of criticism that they received, which was way over the top, we just knew that they were going to be better. So, we got to be better, and we will be better.' We're off to a decider. Photo byDaley, however, refused to be drawn on Billy Slater's turbulent 24 hours prior to the match. 'I'm not dodging the question, but I've just been focused on the group,' Daley said. 'I really have. I haven't really discussed anything. I just know that my energy's been channelled into the players 'I don't really know. And to be fair, when I'm in camp, I don't read papers. I don't go near them, because I just don't want to know what's going on in the world. And I don't know what's going on in rugby league as well. I wouldn't be able to tell you what's happening.' Daley also revealed Nathan Cleary was battling a groin injury which prevented him from goalkicking duties. 'He just felt a bit tight in his groin, so we wanted to limit the amount of force that he put through there,' Daley said of Cleary. 'So he's a tough kid, Nathan. We know what a quality player he is, but he's tough and his groin was tight, but he got through okay.' 'And as I said, I have got to take responsibility because we started well, but the first half wasn't great. So, I got to look at what I've done, because something's not right.' Originally published as 'Something's not right': Laurie Daley's blunt admission as NSW rage over brutal penalty count
News.com.au
43 minutes ago
- News.com.au
‘That's a nice moment': Billy Slater's changeroom act with wife says it all
Billy Slater looked like a very relieved man as Queensland hung on to win a thrilling State of Origin Game 2 and force a series decider. The Maroons defeated NSW 26-24, withstanding a ferocious second half charge onslaught in Perth as the Blues threatened to pull off the greatest comeback in Origin history after trailing 26-6 at halftime. FOX LEAGUE, available on Kayo Sports, is the only place to watch every game of every round in the 2025 NRL Telstra Premiership, LIVE with no ad-breaks during play. New to Kayo? Get your first month for just $1. Limited-time offer. NSW scored four tries to none in the second half and you could almost hear Slater exhale a sigh of relief as time ran out for the Blues to score a matchwinner. 'I think Billy's expression summed it up pretty well at the end there, he'd be disappointed with the second half,' Darren Lockyer said on Nine. 'I think we (Queensland) were guilty of looking at the scoreboard once we came back out after half time, we just lost our intensity and we stopped playing footy.' The Queensland coach's back-and-forth with Aaron Woods this week nearly overshadowed the game after the NSW forward called Slater a 'grub' and Slater hit back at Woods. Slater later apologised for bringing up the death of ex-Queensland coach Paul Green in response, which he said was 'not appropriate'. 'Yesterday I wrongly made the link between Paul Green's death and the stress and pressures of coaching, which wasn't accurate,' he said. But Queensland's performance, especially in the first half, proved the war of words didn't derail their preparation. Slater's job may well have been in danger had Queensland lost Game 2 and a second series in a row, which would not have gone down well north of the border. The 42-year-old cut a relieved figure in the sheds post-game, sharing a hug with his wife Nicole after a tense build-up that would have taken its toll. Slater leapt up from his chair to greet his wife and they shared a lengthy embrace in touching scenes. Nine's James Bracey said: 'There's a nice moment Billy with wife Nicole, who made the trek over yesterday to be alongside her hubby, who got the job done. 'And of course it's Billy's birthday, happy birthday Bill. It's the ultimate present.' New Queensland captain Cameron Munster was named man of the match and gave an impassioned tribute to his coach post-game. 'With all the pressure and criticism that Billy Slater has been getting, we're just glad we played for him tonight,' Munster said on Channel 9. 'He deserves everything, he loves Queensland and he loves this group. 'There's been a lot of speculation in the media, we needed to turn up for our coach tonight and we f***ing did.' In their post-match press conference, Munster again backed in his coach in an emotional address. 'When you've got jabs or blokes in the media having a go at your coach, at the end of the day he is our coach and he has done everything he can and ticked the boxes for us,' Munster said. 'We didn't perform for him in Game I and he got a lot of slack for it and a lot of stuff in the media and he didn't deserve it. 'I played with Bill, he is a champion player and a champion coach and I have had a great relationship with him and still do. We are really close mates. 'When you have someone jabbing him like that, it really hurts. It hurts me personally and I never tell him that. I will tell him now, I love him. 'I just want to do the best thing for him and the best thing for Queensland. He's not doing this for him, he's doing this for Queensland and he loves Queensland. 'That's the reason why he's so passionate and when you have someone like that at the top, you want to play for him. At the end of the day … he's the reason I want to play.' Munster said he didn't need to address the team about the controversy involving Slater and Woods in the lead-up. 'No, I didn't have to. Rightly so, the boys would have seen it on their phones, media, whatever it was,' Munster said. 'At the end of the day when someone is having a jab at someone from your own backyard you stand up and want to get up and fight. 'We needed to do that tonight, we were backs against the wall, no one gave us a chance. 'When you have guys nitpicking and jabbing at your coach, it's not him, it's the players who go out there. He's given us a great game plan and we didn't execute in Game I. 'We did it tonight in the first half … but just so proud of us as a group that we had to play for him.' Slater was momentarily stunned by the comments from his former Storm and Queensland teammate. 'That's the nicest thing he has ever said to me,' Slater said. 'No, I don't know. I know the game, I'm in the game, I understand it. Sometimes things get pushed to the boundary but it hasn't influenced how I look at myself. 'And who I am as a person, I am very comfortable with who I am. I know who I am, I know who these guys are and there's been a real togetherness about the group. 'That was what I was talking about with the position switches, starting, bench, it doesn't matter. Everyone is a player of this footy team. 'That's what Queenslanders do, they do it together, I'm not talking disrespectful to any other states. But when something happens they all pull together and look after each other. 'Whether it's a flood, or a cyclone, a bushfire, they all pull together and help each other out.' 'We probably put it on ourselves, we didn't play great footy in the first game and as media journos you have got to create stories,' 'We improved tonight but we have so much more improvement to do because we can't afford to dish up that stuff we did in the second half. 'If it's a dry track it could have been a different story … we just can't keep blowing leads like that.' Slater will have led Queensland to a third Origin shield from just his fourth season in charge if the Maroons can win the decider in Sydney on July 9.
The Advertiser
an hour ago
- The Advertiser
Cries of 1995 spur Maroons to gutsiest Perth win
Queensland have revealed how they channelled the spirit of 1995 in their State of Origin revival, shouting out references to it as defensive motivation in Perth. Some 30 years on from Paul Vautin's famous victory while coaching the so-called 'Neville nobodies', the Maroons have made it a theme of their 2025 campaign. Queensland players watched highlights from the Maroons' 3-0 whitewash on their first day in camp, and embraced the backs-to-the-wall aspect again in Perth. Nowhere was that more typified than in the final minutes of Origin II, as it seemed almost inevitable that waves of Blues attack would complete a 20-point comeback. According to prop Lindsay Collins, it was at that point Maroons players began yelling "1995" to each other, as they desperately tried to keep their line intact. "It's been our whole camp," Collins told AAP. "We watched the three games in the first day of camp one. We've had blocks in our training just called 1995. "And every time we are down there in defence everyone is screaming out 1995, 1995. "In defence when we know we have to be up on our line, everyone is talking 1995. They have been a big part of our series this year." Collins said the Maroons had taken lessons from Queensland winning the opening game of that series 2-0, despite having their side ripped apart by the Super League war. "It is powerful," Collins said. "It's just a reminder, they turned up and that's what we've got to do. That's what we do when you wear this jersey. "We had three minutes there to hang in there and defend for each other and fight. "So it's a little tip of the cap to them, they've been a big part of this series so to do that for them, it was pretty cool." New Queensland captain Cameron Munster also made reference to the 1995 spirit after the win, vowing to take it into the Sydney series decider on July 9. If the Maroons were to win there, it is likely this series victory would sit alongside the famous resilient efforts of 1995 and 2020 given Queensland's game-one loss at home. "We keep talking about it," Munster said. "They won by two points in a couple of those games in the series, and we won by two tonight. It was that '95 mentality in defence. "We've just got to keep working hard for each other. It's going to be a harder task going to Sydney, and we've got to be ready for it. "We can't afford to be ambushed." Queensland's 1995 captain Trevor Gillmeister, coach Paul Vautin and legend Billy Moore all spent Wednesday night at a function at Suncorp Stadium, watching the game on the big screen. When told about the Maroons' 1995 catch call, he said: "All of the 1995 guys will be proud as punch to hear that. "It's great that Cameron and Lindsay remember their past. I know Billy has been really big on history and reminding the guys what we achieved in 1995." Queensland have revealed how they channelled the spirit of 1995 in their State of Origin revival, shouting out references to it as defensive motivation in Perth. Some 30 years on from Paul Vautin's famous victory while coaching the so-called 'Neville nobodies', the Maroons have made it a theme of their 2025 campaign. Queensland players watched highlights from the Maroons' 3-0 whitewash on their first day in camp, and embraced the backs-to-the-wall aspect again in Perth. Nowhere was that more typified than in the final minutes of Origin II, as it seemed almost inevitable that waves of Blues attack would complete a 20-point comeback. According to prop Lindsay Collins, it was at that point Maroons players began yelling "1995" to each other, as they desperately tried to keep their line intact. "It's been our whole camp," Collins told AAP. "We watched the three games in the first day of camp one. We've had blocks in our training just called 1995. "And every time we are down there in defence everyone is screaming out 1995, 1995. "In defence when we know we have to be up on our line, everyone is talking 1995. They have been a big part of our series this year." Collins said the Maroons had taken lessons from Queensland winning the opening game of that series 2-0, despite having their side ripped apart by the Super League war. "It is powerful," Collins said. "It's just a reminder, they turned up and that's what we've got to do. That's what we do when you wear this jersey. "We had three minutes there to hang in there and defend for each other and fight. "So it's a little tip of the cap to them, they've been a big part of this series so to do that for them, it was pretty cool." New Queensland captain Cameron Munster also made reference to the 1995 spirit after the win, vowing to take it into the Sydney series decider on July 9. If the Maroons were to win there, it is likely this series victory would sit alongside the famous resilient efforts of 1995 and 2020 given Queensland's game-one loss at home. "We keep talking about it," Munster said. "They won by two points in a couple of those games in the series, and we won by two tonight. It was that '95 mentality in defence. "We've just got to keep working hard for each other. It's going to be a harder task going to Sydney, and we've got to be ready for it. "We can't afford to be ambushed." Queensland's 1995 captain Trevor Gillmeister, coach Paul Vautin and legend Billy Moore all spent Wednesday night at a function at Suncorp Stadium, watching the game on the big screen. When told about the Maroons' 1995 catch call, he said: "All of the 1995 guys will be proud as punch to hear that. "It's great that Cameron and Lindsay remember their past. I know Billy has been really big on history and reminding the guys what we achieved in 1995." Queensland have revealed how they channelled the spirit of 1995 in their State of Origin revival, shouting out references to it as defensive motivation in Perth. Some 30 years on from Paul Vautin's famous victory while coaching the so-called 'Neville nobodies', the Maroons have made it a theme of their 2025 campaign. Queensland players watched highlights from the Maroons' 3-0 whitewash on their first day in camp, and embraced the backs-to-the-wall aspect again in Perth. Nowhere was that more typified than in the final minutes of Origin II, as it seemed almost inevitable that waves of Blues attack would complete a 20-point comeback. According to prop Lindsay Collins, it was at that point Maroons players began yelling "1995" to each other, as they desperately tried to keep their line intact. "It's been our whole camp," Collins told AAP. "We watched the three games in the first day of camp one. We've had blocks in our training just called 1995. "And every time we are down there in defence everyone is screaming out 1995, 1995. "In defence when we know we have to be up on our line, everyone is talking 1995. They have been a big part of our series this year." Collins said the Maroons had taken lessons from Queensland winning the opening game of that series 2-0, despite having their side ripped apart by the Super League war. "It is powerful," Collins said. "It's just a reminder, they turned up and that's what we've got to do. That's what we do when you wear this jersey. "We had three minutes there to hang in there and defend for each other and fight. "So it's a little tip of the cap to them, they've been a big part of this series so to do that for them, it was pretty cool." New Queensland captain Cameron Munster also made reference to the 1995 spirit after the win, vowing to take it into the Sydney series decider on July 9. If the Maroons were to win there, it is likely this series victory would sit alongside the famous resilient efforts of 1995 and 2020 given Queensland's game-one loss at home. "We keep talking about it," Munster said. "They won by two points in a couple of those games in the series, and we won by two tonight. It was that '95 mentality in defence. "We've just got to keep working hard for each other. It's going to be a harder task going to Sydney, and we've got to be ready for it. "We can't afford to be ambushed." Queensland's 1995 captain Trevor Gillmeister, coach Paul Vautin and legend Billy Moore all spent Wednesday night at a function at Suncorp Stadium, watching the game on the big screen. When told about the Maroons' 1995 catch call, he said: "All of the 1995 guys will be proud as punch to hear that. "It's great that Cameron and Lindsay remember their past. I know Billy has been really big on history and reminding the guys what we achieved in 1995."
