KIERSTEN DUKE: Billy Slater’s Paul Green comment is one he is always going to regret

Emotions are erupting ahead of the second Origin game with an emotional and fired-up Billy Slater embroiled in an ugly war of words with Aaron Woods following the ex-Blue’s controversial statement on radio last week.

While disagreeing with the axing of Queensland captain Daly Cherry- Evans, Woods took it upon himself to label Slater a “grub” while challenging him to show the real version of himself. The version we all saw when Slater faced a seven-week suspension for kicking John Skandalis in the head at Leichhardt Oval back in 2006.

The fiery comments from Woodsy were met with gasps and giggles of disbelief from his colleagues. With one exclaiming “go off son!”.

Woods was brought on to Triple M’s Sydney breakfast show in hopes to boost the program’s falling ratings. I think it’s safe to say Woodsy has ensured those ratings have spiked.

But was the comment just to spark attention towards the radio show or was there some truth to it?

Personally, I like Slater. I’ve been a horse girl since I was three-years-old and utterly adore seeing the passion he has for horses outside of rugby league, as well as his efforts during Queensland’s Magic Millions Carnival and beyond in horse racing.

But something just didn’t sit right with me about his behaviour during Tuesday’s press conference.

Seeing a visibly rattled Slater in a press conference felt like a new experience for most viewers. Usually, Slater is someone who can do no wrong, but he looked incredibly emotional while speaking prior to Wednesday night’s must-win game for his Maroons.

He started his response by insinuating Woods was two-faced, recalling bumping into him a few weeks ago and Woods stopping to take the time to introduce his son to him.

Off the back of the recollection Slater made a point that as much as he understands the need for attention in our game, those in the media are in privileged positions and hold a responsibility. That responsibility being to not take things too far when it comes to personal digs. He questioned whether Woods deserved his spot in the media.

It was interesting for Slater to request a bit of grace when he showed none towards Newcastle Knight Cory Paterson 15 years ago when he was diagnosed with clinical depression.

During an on-field feud Slater taunted the back rower to “go and cry in his room”.

An enraged (and rightly so) Paterson had to be pulled away by his teammates after he was targeted for his mental health battles.

This hit a personal nerve for me. It was around this time I was diagnosed with PTSD. My mum would have to stay in my bed with me while I battled night terrors.

Every day was a struggle to get out of bed, I couldn’t eat or shower myself. I didn’t see myself when I looked in my bedroom mirror and I wonder how I would’ve coped having someone turn to me and tell me to “go and cry in my room”.

I’m not entirely sure I would be here writing this column today.

Depression is a widespread issue in society with more than two million Australians suffering from it at any given time.

I believe Slater offered a sincere apology off the back of these comments during the heat of the game. But fast forward to now and you can see why it seemed like all the air was sucked out of the room when he linked former Queensland coach Paul Green’s passing to the impact derogatory comments can have on people.

Green tragically took his own life in 2022, one year after coaching Queensland in a series loss. A post-mortem found he had been suffering from severe and undiagnosed CTE.

Slater wrongly made the link between Green’s death and has since apologised profusely, both publicly and by personally contacting Green’s family.

Throughout this entire ordeal the Maroons team have stood up for their coach. But is this chaos really what they need when they’re feeling the most pressure they’ve been under in years?

Hopefully for Queensland’s sake it’s taken the heat off the players so they can enjoy a breather while their coach is under fire.

Far from ideal but perhaps experiencing an ease in negative commentary around their performance will take the immense pressure down a notch.

We don’t have to wait long to find out.

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