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.
Paul Vautin became one of rugby league’s most popular media personalities.Credit: Getty
“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.
“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.
But throughout the NRL season, a host of contentious interpretations have drawn the ire of pundits and fans.
Vautin’s greatest angst was saved for the crackdown on high tackles, which has eased recently, but presented different playing parameters each week.
The protection on the kickers has also divided opinion. Wests Tigers star Jarome Luai’s clinical hit as Panthers’ counterpart Blaize Talagi put up a kick led coach Benji Marshall to declare the players didn’t “actually get to decide tonight” after their four-point defeat.
A week later, former Maroons star Dane Gagai questioned how the Bunker awarded a contention try in Newcastle’s defeat to the Roosters, after Siua Wong grounded the ball with his forearm.
But Vautin scorned the six-again calls awarded for holding down players in the ruck and offside penalties, describing them as “a bit of a blight on the game”.
“The thing that’s most annoying to rugby league to everyone I talk to is the six-agains,” Vautin said.
“They are annoying because no one ever knows what they’re for. Even on your television, up comes ‘ruck infringement’ – you know what, there are 747 different ruck infringements.
“No one knows, that’s the problem. Our game has never been in a better position – the money is flowing in, [NRL boss] Peter V’landys has done a great job, and the players have never looked bigger and fitter and stronger.
“It’s just a few little things around the rules, and the Bunker drives me mad as well.”
Vautin expressed his hope the NRL’s determination to eliminate careless high tackles would not impact Origin, labelling the initial crackdown “ridiculous”.
After the game’s governing body issued a warning to clubs on the eve of round five that a greater focus on head contact would ensue, 12 dangerous high tackle charges were laid – the same number as across the opening four rounds of the campaign.
In round eight, 18 players were sent to the sin bin, albeit not all for dangerous tackles, and 77 careless high tackle charges have been laid since the Preseason Challenge compared with 117 across all of last season – excluding Origin fixtures.
“This is a high-level body contact game. If you’re going to play rugby league for a living, you have to realise that at some stage your head’s going to get hit,” Vautin said.
“I played 14 years of first-grade, I reckon I got hit 100 times in the head. Five of them were from blokes going ‘f— you, get this’, others were all accidents, sometimes caused by myself.
“The accidental ones I really hate when they give a penalty. Because players know they’re going to get a penalty, a lot of them do lie on the ground, no doubt about it.
“I’ve got no doubt the coaches are encouraging that, and so they should, but it is a blight on the game.”
