Sweep smell of success: Billy's shot at a piece of Origin history

"You’re in this team right now, you are guardians of the Queensland jumper, which we all have been in our era. What we’ve all done is protect and serve this jersey and what it’s worth to the fans and we’re doing it for them. Right now, you are guardians of the jumper, so go out and do it proud."

Standing before the current Queensland squad ahead of Game One in Adelaide, Maroons legend Paul Vautin chose his words carefully, determined to deliver a message that would resonate with Billy Slater’s men.

Having won five Origin series as a player and famously coached them to glory against all odds in 1995, Vautin knew plenty about what it takes to achieve success in rugby league’s toughest arena.

As a man with a deep respect for the traditions of Origin, Slater happily opens the floor to those who have done the Queensland jersey proud since Big Artie first led them onto Lang Park in 1980.

“Billy is really interested in former players and former teams and it’s funny, I’m nearly 64 and I’m standing there as a little grey-headed old man, and I’m sure they’re looking at me going ‘this bloke played Origin?'” Vautin said.

“And I said, ‘I reckon I’m nearly as big as Reuben’ so I got him to come up next to me and he had me by a foot!

"I reckon Reuben [Cotter] is the next Trevor Gillmeister, the next Bryan Niebling.

“You couldn’t have found a better backline anywhere in the world than Queensland had in the late 80s but they can’t do what they do without guys like Wally Fullerton-Smith and Niebling and Gilly – you can’t survive in Origin without the hard workers.

“Being a battler myself and I played 21 of them, I know how much the battlers mean to the Queensland team.

“I was proud to have played in that era, they were two great series in 1988-89 – the Blues never looked like winning a game.”

With Wally Lewis and Allan Langer at the helm and Martin Bella and Sam Backo at the coalface, the Maroons posted back-to-back 3-0 triumphs, two of only seven clean sweeps in Origin history.

The Blues were first to achieve the feat in 1986 and did it again in 2000, while Queensland came up with whitewashes in 1995 and 2010 to go with the 1988-89 triumphs.

On the back of their narrow win in Game One and a Suncorp Stadium shellacking in Game Two, the Maroons’ Class of 2023 stand on the verge another sweep.

Should they salute in Sydney, Slater will become just the fourth man in Origin history to savour a sweep as a player and a coach.

Legendary Tiger Wayne Pearce (1986 and 2000) is the only New South Welshman in the exclusive club, alongside Immortal Mal Meninga (1989 and 2010) and Vautin (1988-89 and 1995).

Famously dubbed ‘Fatty’s Nevilles’, the 1995 Maroons had been ravaged by the Super League War and on paper looked to have no chance against a Blues side boasting 11 internationals.

What transpired was a fabled series victory that began with a dour dogfight in Sydney and ended with a raucous coronation in front of the Lang Park faithful.

Careers were launched and legends born as Vautin sprinkled his maroon magic dust over a group of men prepared to do whatever it took and then some. 

"They couldn’t find a coach at first, I think I was 35th choice but I had no hesitation in doing it," Vautin recalled.

"Not for one second did I think we couldn't win. I saw the battlers in there, the veterans and reserve-graders and I thought, 'This is Queensland, this is what we do'.

"We won 2-0 in that first game in Sydney and then wrapped it up at the MCG and I remember coming back into the sheds after Game 2 and I said, ‘Now do you believe? Do you believe in yourselves and the Queensland jumper, because this is what it can do for you’.

"But the most important game for me was to come back home and win Game Three at Lang Park, which we did.

"I told them that the job wasn't done. We had them down but we had to finish them and that's what Billy's team has to do now.

"Queensland are on a bit of a high and looking at a NSW team that looks a bit dishevelled but if they don't respect every player in that Blues team they'll get beaten.

"You have to respect every player like he’s the best player in the world. Respect is the one word in life you have to live by.

"I had a beer with 'Chief' [Paul Harragon] a few years back and I asked him what went wrong for his team in '95 when we rolled them.

"He told me they thought it was a gee-up when they saw the two sides and they would beat us by 50. I said, 'so you disrespected us, how did that go for you'."

Vautin is adamant complacency won't infiltrate Camp Maroon while ever Slater is at the helm, surrounded by a posse of champions he shared the Origin stage with during Queensland's eight-year reign from 2006-13.