Thirty years on from Paul Vautin leading Queensland to arguably the greatest rugby league upset in history, it is still incomprehensible how they managed to pull off their famous State of Origin series whitewash.

Billy Slater’s current squad could do with whatever magic Fatty stumbled upon from the ether to conjure up a 3-0 victory over a significantly stronger NSW line-up. 

The funny thing is when you look at the “Neville Nobodies” team that the QRL managed to cobble together from the players who had stayed loyal to the ARL during the early stages of the Super League war, many of them were representative quality players.

But apart from North Sydney duo Gary Larson and Billy Moore and Mark Coyne in the centres, most of them would have struggled to make a first-choice Queensland side. 

With the Brisbane club committing early to Super League, the 1995 Maroons were unable to pick Allan Langer, Kevin Walters, Steve Renouf, Julian O’Neill, Willie Carne, Michael Hancock and Andrew Gee who had all been integral members of the Origin team the previous year.

Throw in captain Mal Meninga’s retirement at the end of ‘94 and add Raiders hooker Steve Walters, Super League signatory Gorden Tallis, Bulldogs utility Darren Smith and emerging Broncos winger Wendell Sailor to the list of players unavailable and the Maroons selectors were left with no choice but to hunt down any first-grader (fringe or otherwise) who had spent more than a week’s holiday north of the border to sign up for mission impossible. 

There were some dubious connections – Adrian Lam had previously represented Papua New Guinea but under the circumstances the ARL was in no mood to be sticklers for Origin eligibility (if they ever have been) so Queensland were given a dispensation to select the “Kumul kiddy” as Roy Slaven and HG Nelson described him.

With no other top-quality halves available after the Super League signing spree, Dale Shearer was thrown the five-eighth jersey despite playing in the position just five times in his previous 10 years of first grade. 

The veteran star only wore the No.6 jersey at club level four more times in the final four years of his career. 

Queensland’s team that ran out for Origin I in 1995 versus the one that would have been picked if not for Super League 

The story of Vautin not knowing who Ikin, an 18-year-old just three games into his first-grade career, was until they bumped into each other in a lift has been told countless times.

But what also cannot be understated is that fellow reserves Terry Cook and Craig Teevan were fringe first-graders for most of their journeymen careers who never in their wildest dreams were considered Origin calibre players.

And then there’s Vautin, who was only a few years removed from his playing career and had no coaching experience, taking over from Queensland icon Wayne Bennett who pulled out a few weeks before the series because he was aligned to Super League. 

Vautin was not only an unproven coach but he was up against Phil Gould, who had masterminded three straight Origin series wins after harnessing the Origin spirit that Queensland had until that point claimed as their own.

The newspaper headlines at the time outright mocked the Maroons as being on a hiding to nothing. 

The infamous brawl at the MCG in 1995.

One thing in the Maroons’ favour which was overlooked in the lead-up to game day was that Super League had also taken a fair chunk out of the NSW line-up with Canberra stars Ricky Stuart, Laurie Daley, Bradley Clyde, Brett Mullins and Ken Nagas lost from the 1994 team along with Broncos duo Glenn Lazarus and Chris Johns, Sharks speedster Andrew Ettingshausen and Canterbury forward Dean Pay.

In their place came an influx of young talent in halves Andrew and Matthew Johns, hooker Jim Serdaris, winger Craig Hancock and reserves Matt Seers and Adam Muir.

Despite the upheaval to the Blues, the result was still considered a fait accompli. 

Queensland would be slaughtered from the get-go, particularly with game one on enemy turf at the old Sydney Football Stadium.

With both teams playing like schoolboys at a rep carnival who had only just met, NSW had a couple of chances to seal victory in the series opener but centre Terry Hill was unable to get the ball down in one near miss and Rod Wishart stepped on the sideline in another disallowed try. 

Ultimately, the only points of the match came via a penalty goal to Wayne Bartrim, a St George lock at the time playing hooker as a “Queenslander” despite being born and growing up on the NSW North Coast. 

The surprise scoreline rekindled interest in Origin despite the galaxy of stars being sidelined.

Origin’s caravan moved further south to the MCG and despite the paucity of recognisable names in Aussie rules heartland, more than 52,000 fans turned out for a match best remembered for the early all-in brawl.

When the dust settled, the Maroons displayed more composure to lead 8-2 at half-time before clinging to a 14-12 lead late in the contest. 

Maroons winger Brett Dallas surprised everyone in attendance, including Vautin at his sideline vantage point, by running nearly the length of the field in the closing stages to seal not only an eight-point boilover but a series win against all odds. 

Queensland coach Paul Vautin is swamped by former Origin teammates Wally Lewis and Chris Close.

Even the prospect of a barely believable dead rubber in game three – at the recently renamed Suncorp Stadium still known as Lang Park – did not dampen the enthusiasm of the crowd of more than 40,000 who turned out and the 17 players who took the field in Maroons jerseys.

Queensland again got their noses in front early to lead 12-10 at half-time before sealing a 24-16 victory to complete the most extraordinary clean sweep in the history of Origin and probably all Australian sport.

Three decades later, it’s still astounding that Queensland were able to do the impossible.

Even with a renowned prankster like Vautin recalling the stories from yesteryear, he can’t make the tall stories any more unbelievable because they were already inconceivable in the first place.