Maroons, Broncos and Roosters great Trevor Gillmeister has discussed his glittering career in rugby league including the legendary 1995 State of Origin series and playing under Arthur Beetson.
Known as ‘The Axe’, due to his hard-hitting tackling technique, Gillmeister played 233 games across 11 seasons as well as representing Queensland 22 times.
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Gillmeister captained the Maroons to an upset 3-0 series sweep of the Blues in 1995, one of the greatest moments in Queensland rugby league history.
The Maroons were massive underdogs that year, due to the Super League-aligned players not being eligible for Origin.
That ruled out players from the Brisbane Broncos, which made up most of the Queensland backline.
“I think we had 9-10 debutants for that series,” Gillmeister said.
“I remember (coach) Fatty Vautin rung me up and told me he was the coach, and I started laughing and said is this a gee up then he said what’s so funny? You’re the captain.”
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“Fatty spoke to me before camp and asked how should he approach the series, I said well we aren’t going to beat them on talent or skill but we’ll beat them on mateship and having a crack.
“That’s what we did and we beat them in all three games.”
Gillmeister also detailed his time at the Roosters, where he played under the legendary Arthur Beetson.
“I loved playing when Arthur was coach, he was more like a second father to us Queenslanders who didn’t have any family down there.
“I can’t thank Arthur enough for what he did for my career.”
