Paul Vautin

Paul Vautin(born 21 July 1959), nicknamedFatty,is an Australian football commentator and former professionalrugby leaguefootballer, captain and coach. He has provided commentary for theNine Network's coverage of rugby league since joining the network in 1992 and also hostedThe Footy Showfrom its beginnings in 1994 opposite co-hostPeter Sterling,until 2017. AnAustralian Kangaroostest andQueenslandState of Originrepresentative lock or second-row forward, Vautin played club football in Brisbane withWests,before moving to Sydney in 1979 to play withManly-Warringah,whom he would captain to the1987 NSWRL premiership.He also played for Sydney'sEastern Suburbs,and in England forSt Helens.

Fatty Vautin

Personal information
Full name	Paul Vautin
Born	(1959-07-21)21 July 1959 Brisbane, Queensland,Australia
Playing information
Height	176 cm (5 ft 9 in)
Weight	90 kg (14 st 2 lb)
Position	Lock,Second-row
Club Years Team Pld T G FG P 1978 Western Suburbs 22 3 14 0 37 1979–89 Manly-Warringah 204 20 2 2 74 1988–89 St. Helens 21 4 0 0 16 1990–91 Eastern Suburbs 34 1 0 0 4 Total 281 28 16 2 131 Representative Years Team Pld T G FG P 1982–90 Queensland 22 2 0 0 7 1982–89 Australia 13 0 0 0 0 1984 NSW City 1 0 0 0 0
Coaching information
Representative Years Team Gms W D L W% 1992 Brisbane Capitols 5 5 0 0 100 1995–97 Queensland 9 4 0 5 44
Source:

After playing, Vautin became a sports commentator for the Nine Network, calling rugby league games alongsideRay Warrenand the recently retiredPeter Sterling.Later, during theSuper League war,he was hired to coach Queensland in the1995 State of Origin seriesand took the Maroons to an upset 3–0 whitewash of series favouriteNew South Wales.

Playing career

Vautin made his name in the late 1970s. He played for theWests Panthersin theBrisbane Rugby League premiership,theManly-Warringah Sea Eaglesin Sydney,St. Helensin England,Queenslandin theState of Originand theAustralia national rugby league team.He finished his playing career with Sydney club theEastern Suburbs Roostersin 1991.

Club

Wests Panthers

He was graded as an 18-year-old byBrisbane Rugby Leagueclub Wests as aLockin 1978, sometimes playing opposite another talented young lock fromValley'sdestined for future greatness as aFive-eighthnamedWally Lewis.Vautin was signed by Manly-Warringah club Secretary Ken Arthurson in late 1978 after Arthurson had viewed a tape of him scoring a 75-metre try from a scrum for Wests atLang Park,and moved from Brisbane to play for the defending NSWRFL premiers starting in1979.

Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles

After playingReserve Gradefor Manly in the opening round of the 1979 season, againstSt. GeorgeatKogarah Oval,Vautin went on to play in grand finals with Manly in1982and1983,going down to Parramatta both times.

Vautin was named captain of Manly-Warringah in1985by coachBob Fulton.

Vautin enjoyed success in leading Manly to an 18–8 victory over theCanberra Raidersin the1987 Grand Final,the last played at theSydney Cricket Ground.Before the 1987 season had started, the Manly club board had wanted Bob Fulton to install1986 Kangaroo toursecond rowerNoel Clealas club captain,replacing Vautin who had captained the side since 1985.

Following the grand final victory in 1987, he traveled with Manly to England for the1987 World Club Challengeagainst their champions,Wigan.The home side won a try-less game 8–2 atCentral Park.During the match, Vautin was tackled over the sideline in front of the main grandstand. After easily being the best side in the Sydney competition during the year, and after the unbeaten 1986 Kangaroo tour of Great Britain and France, the Manly players later admitted to over-confidence and took the game far too lightly, treating the trip more as a holiday than anything serious and actually continued their grand final celebrations while in England.

St. Helens

Vautin and Manly teammate Michael O'Connor both signed to play for theAlex MurphycoachedSt. Helensduring the1988–89 Rugby Football League seasonon 2 August 1988. Fatty would go on to captain St. Helens in his last match for them, a 27–0 loss to Wigan in the1989 Challenge Cup Finalplayed on 29 April 1989 atWembley Stadiumin front of 78,000 fans. It was the first time since 1952 that a team had been held scoreless.Vautin played 21 games for St. Helens in 1988–89 and made his début in English club football on 9 October 1988 in a 30–22 win overHull Kingston RoversatCraven ParkinHull.

Eastern Suburbs Roosters

He signed with the Eastern Suburbs Roosters for two years, where he even spent time in reserve grade after being dropped by coachMark Murray- a former Queensland and Australian teammate, before retiring at the end of the1991 NSWRL season.His last game for the out of contention Roosters was an 8-42 loss to eventual premiers Penrith at theSydney Football Stadiumon 25 August, the final round of the season.

State of Origin

Vautin made his Origin début for theMaroonsin game 2 of the1982 series.

In 1984, Vautin and Manly teammateChris Closebecame the last Queensland representative players to be selected for the annualNSW City vs NSW Countrygame, when he was selected in the second row forNSW Cityfor the game at the SCG, won 38–12 by City.

For the next nine years, he played for Queensland with the exception of1986.

Game 1 of the1990 serieswas Vautin's last game of State of Origin football as he was dumped after Queensland lost 0–8 to NSW after having won both the previous two series 3–0.

International

Vautin made his test début forAustraliain1982in the first test againstNew Zealand,atLang Parkin Brisbane under the coaching of his original Manly coach Frank Stanton. However, after playing for Queensland and Australia, and helping Manly to second on the ladder and then into the grand final against minor premiers Parramatta, he was not selected for the end of season1982 Kangaroo tour.

He returned to the test team for Australia's mid-season tour to New Zealand in 1983, and in 1984 was selected for the secondAshesTest againstGreat Britainat Lang Park, copping an elbow to the face from replacementMick Adamsas he tackled the Lions forward, resulting in a fractured cheekbone during the 18–6 win which saw Australia retain The Ashes. Vautin's injury kept him out of the third test at the Sydney Cricket Ground, and caused him to miss 11 games of the1984 NSWRL season.

Vautin played 13 test matches during his career, touring New Zealand twice in1985and1989.In addition to the thirteen tests he played for Australia, he played two tour games in New Zealand in 1985 and three tour games in 1989.

Vautin was selected for Australia in their successful 1988 Ashes series against theGreat Britaintourists.

Vautin was the vice-captain of Australia'smid-season tour of New Zealandin 1989, captaining the team in three tour games (Wally Lewis was the tour and test captain). Fatty captained the Australian team (now coached by Bob Fulton) to a 50–18 win over aNew Zealand XIIIat thePalmerston North Showgroundsin the opening game of the tour. He would later captain the side in another tour game againstAucklandfor the only loss of the tour, the Australians surprised 26–24 atCarlaw Park(the Kangaroos first non-test loss since losing toWidneson the1978 Kangaroo tour), before captaining the team from the unfamiliar position ofFive-eighthfor a 28–10 win overWellingtonat theBasin Reserve.

During his career, Vautin often had to compete with players such asRay Price,Wayne Pearceand fellow QueenslanderBob Lindnerfor the Australian Lock-forward position, and as such was often selected in the second row. Of his 13 test matches, Vautin played 8 in the second row, 4 at lock and one (a 70–8 win overPapua New GuineainWagga Waggain 1988) from the bench.

Coaching career

Loyal to hisChannel Nineemployer, Vautin was a vocal supporter of theKerry Packer-backedAustralian Rugby Leagueduring theSuper League warwhich started in 1995. With only limited coaching experience having coached theBrisbane Capitolsto theWinfield State Leaguechampionship in 1992 (winning all 5 games),he was considered an inferior replacement for dual premiership winning coachWayne Bennettwho was originally named to return as coach of the 1995 Queensland State of Origin team (Bennett had previously coached the Maroons from 1986-1988), and with Queensland having lost the last three consecutive series and being given a handful of young and inexperienced players, Vautin and Queensland were expected to be easy prey for NSW, who could still boast almost half a side of international players as well as Origin and dual premiership winning coachPhil Gould.However, his representative coaching début took a fairy tale turn when the young Maroons, without any of the stars fromSuper League-aligned clubs (most notably the Wayne Bennett coachedBrisbane Broncos), completed a 3–0 series whitewash of New South Wales that year.

With the Super League players available for selection in the1996 State of Origin series,Queensland were rated a chance of retaining their crown but lost the series 0–3. After losing the1997 series1–2, Vautin was replaced as Queensland coach the following year byWayne Bennett.

Post-football career

In 2000, Vautin was awarded theAustralian Sports Medalfor his contribution to Australia's international standing in the sport of rugby league.

Commentary

After Manly had been knocked out of the finals series, Paul Vautin made his television commentary début during the1988 NSWRL Grand Finalwith theABCalongside long time caller David Morrow. Vautin's introduction to television commentary did not go to plan though as he thought they were pre-recording the introduction to the game and dropped the "F-bomb", only to find out that it was in fact being broadcast live around Australia.

Paul Vautin (on the left) withDarryl BrohmanandBeau Ryanat 2016TV Week Logie Awards

Vautin was then signed by theNine Networkand has been a regular commentator forNine's Wide World of Sports' coverage of rugby league matches alongsideRay WarrenandPeter Sterlingsince 1992.

Tim Brasheractually fell over in front ofTony Smith.He's hit every limb,Rabs– all five of 'em came out and he's brought down Tony Smith...

— Paul Vautin commentating during the1995 Rugby League World CupFinal atWembley Stadium.

The Footy Show

Vautin has hostedThe NRL Footy Showsince 1994, propelling him to TV stardom. He suffered a seriousconcussionin 2005 filming for the show in a segment called "Dare-Devil Dudes", when he hit his head on concrete, with a helmet luckily minimising the damage. He did not host for a period of about 10 weeks.

From 1992 to 2004, he was a mainstay of the Channel Nine match commentary team along withPeter SterlingandRay Warren,calling club, Origin and international games. Since the concussion incident, he had focussed on hisFooty Showappearances but was still part of the broader Nine expert commentary team for big fixtures like the State of Origin.

Speculation existed that 2017 would be Vautin's last season as host ofThe Footy Show.In October 2017, Vautin was axed from The Footy Show.

Sources

• Colman, Mike (1992)Fatty: The Strife and Times of Paul Vautin,Ironbark Press, Sydney
• Vautin, Paul:Turn It Up! The life and thoughts of Paul "Fatty" Vautin;Pan Publishing, Sydney, 1995. A collection of articles Vautin has written between late 1993 (including his appearance and well-publicised catch in an all-stars cricket match in Queensland) and the end of 1993, covering some of his past and views on current events of the time.
• Andrews, Malcolm (2006)The ABC of Rugby League,Austn Broadcasting Corpn, Sydney
• Big League,State of Origin 25 Years Collectors Edition 1980–2005,News Magazines, Sydney

External links

• Paul VautinatIMDb
• Paul Vautinat theFormer Origin Greatswebsite.
• Saints.org
• Paul Vautin at Silvertails.net