Despite reports to the contrary, Billy Slater was never outright offered the Queensland coaching job and wants the state to stick with Paul Green.
The comments from Slater and Queensland rugby league CEO Bruce Hatcher come on the back of the Maroons being hammered by a combined scoreline of 76 points to 6 in the opening two Origin games of this year's series.
It also follows former Origin great Paul Vautin's claims on ABC radio earlier in the week that Slater had been offered the job outright, only to back out when asked to interview.
โBilly Slater was actually offered the job earlier in the year and he said โyeah Iโll take itโ. A month went by and nothing happened,โ Vautin said.
โThen Billy got a phone call from someone in the QRL saying โweโd love you to come in and have an interviewโ and he said โan interview? What are you talking about? Didnโt you say I had the job?โ."
Hatcher, speaking to News Corp, said Slater had never been offered the job, despite the former Origin legend being thrown up by the media as a candidate when Wayne Bennett stood down from the role following a dramatic 2020 series win for the Maroons.
Slater's name was thrown up alongside others like Cameron Smith and Johnathan Turston, the trio combining for the most dominant stretch in Origin history for either state during their playing careers.
โI donโt know where he got the information from but I certainly canโt corroborate the story,โ Hatcher said.
โI certainly know what I said. (Slater) was not offered the job outright by anyone who had the authority to make that decision.
โI will stand and do a stat dec for you if you want me to do that. That is how confident I feel about that statement.โ
Slater himself said he was taken aback at the thought of coaching, and while he was in discussions with the QRL last year, he now wanted the state to get behind Paul Green.
โI was in discussions with people from the QRL over the summer when Wayne Bennett said he wasnโt going to coach the team after last year," said Slater.
โThey did put it to me. There were people who asked me if I would be interested in coaching and to be honest, I was taken aback.
โI never really sat down and considered it.
โHeโs (Paul Green) our coach. We donโt want to be throwing him out after two games.
โWe need to stick by him. The most disappointing thing for me about all of this was how it was interpreted that were was a friction between myself and QRL.โ
Pressure on Paul Green has been building in recent weeks following the drubbing in Brisbane, where the Maroons were held scoreless at Lang Park for the first time in their history.
The series' third and final game, a dead rubber, will be held on the Gold Coast on Wednesday evening, with the Maroons desperately attempting to avoid a series sweep. It would be the first time the Blues have won 3-0 since 2000 if Brad Fittler's side manage to win.
Queensland's hopes have been boosted by the return of star fullback Kalyn Ponga, while the chances of New South Wales have been hurt, first by the change of venue, and then injuries to Nathan Cleary and Jarome Luai.
