‘Don’t say that!’: Nathan Cleary scolds Nine star after Origin ‘jinx’

Phil Gould tried to jinx Queensland after Origin I, but Nathan Cleary wasn’t having a bar of it when Paul Vautin tried to do the same on Sunday.

Was Fatty trying to jinx Cleary?

Nathan Cleary begged Paul “Fatty” Vautin not to put the mocker on him as footy greats marvelled at the halfback’s performance during the Blues’ 44-12 win in Origin II on Sunday night.

Cleary pulled the strings and scored 24 points (two tries, seven conversions, one penalty goal) to ensure the series will go to a decider in Brisbane next month.

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After Queensland’s victory in Origin I, Cameron Munster shut down Phil Gould in a post-match interview when the rugby league supremo tried to suggest the series was already over, because the Maroons were a lock to win Game 3 at Suncorp Stadium, regardless of the result in Perth.

This time it was Cleary rejecting an assertion from Queensland legend Vautin after the match so as not to be “jinxed”.

Vautin: “Is there any chance you’ll ever miss another goal? Honestly, it’s a gee-up. Eight from eight.”

Cleary: “Don’t say that!”

Vautin: “Can you give us a break?”

Cleary: “We’ll see. (You’re) trying to jinx me.”

Nine host James Bracey said “don’t jinx him” while Gould, who was also sitting at the desk for the post-match analysis, jumped in with a smile and told Cleary to “ignore that”.

Gould told Cleary to ignore Vautin.

On a serious note, Vautin questioned if Cleary was surprised by the “un-Queensland like defence” the Blues encountered late in the second half as Billy Slater’s troops wilted under a mountain of possession against them, allowing the floodgates to open.

“I thought that was from the platform we built,” Cleary said. “It was coming a bit in the first half but we were a bit ill-disciplined.

“In that second half we really put the foot down and built a bit of pressure.”

Around this time of his chat, the remaining members of the crowd soaking up a NSW win went wild as a pitch invader made their way onto Optus Stadium.

Bracey turned around from his chair to see what all the fuss was about before Vautin did the same seconds later, as the over-enthusiastic fan was seen in the background of Nine’s broadcast being chased by security.

The unwanted visitor then fell face first on the turf before being escorted away by the brigade in fluoro.

Cleary was wary about getting too carried away with the 32-point triumph, fully aware the win in the west means nothing if his teammates can’t back it up in Brisbane in a couple of weeks.

Vautin was optimistic Queensland would bounce back in Game 3, telling the NSW playmaker “you can’t win at Lang Park (Suncorp Stadium)”.

“I think we can enjoy this, but we can’t be too pleased with ourselves,” Cleary said. “We’ve got to keep working to get better.

“That was the statement from the last game. We’ve got to be hungry and we’ve got to want it.

“There’s still one more to go. Tonight’s great, we’ll really enjoy this but there’s another job to do.”

An unwanted visitor tried to get their moment in the sun.

Cleary was criticised for his underwhelming performance in Game 1 but showed tremendous maturity to come back the way he did and lead the Blues to a series-levelling victory, setting up tries with kicks and cut-out passes, and scoring two four-pointers himself by running close to the line.

Blues legend Andrew Johns said Cleary — who is still only 24 — was playing like he’d been in the jersey for a decade.

“(Cleary) was incredible tonight. What he is doing at his age as a halfback at this level, there hasn’t been a halfback who has done that in Origin,” Johns said.

“His trajectory is going up and up. Some of these passes, his kicking, his running game, he is controlling the tempo of the game. He knows when to accelerate the team. It was a masterclass.

“And doing it on his own. When he came into Origin, the only knock I had on Nathan was his creativity, playing within the structure, not taking risks. He is doing it now.

“He is playing like a halfback who has played at this level for 10 years. He had it on a string tonight. And to do it against the truly elite, he pulled their pants down so many times.”

Gould called the performance “one of the truly great halfback performances in Origin history”.

“In the first half he was a little frantic and side to side and trying to find something and a grubber kick to Burton got a spark in him and all of a sudden he started to tear Queensland apart,” Gould said.

“The two plays I thought were terrific were the early kicks, the 40-20 down to the corner and the early chip kick down in this corner which got Ponga in goal and they scored from the line drop-out.

“Then he got into rhythm, the over the top pass, the dummy, the show and go and he played off the back of good forwards. As the game went on, he got into another stratosphere of his own performance.”

Nathan Cleary was in a league of his own. (Photo by Paul Kane/Getty Images)