The charm of both the footy show and its hosts was that they were not presenters and the show had a more human feel. Others on the show like Sterlo, Brohman and even Chief would gradually pick it up but to me Vautin never really did. The players that would come on were also getting more and more media training.
I believe it was 05 when he had his fall. When he was off air and Matty took over the show it was a completely different feel. One was just far more natural and seamless in front of the camera.
You're probably right, after that fall he had struggled for a period when he returned, lucky the show still had the likes of Sterlo, Matty Johns and Chief as they had their own segments and helped Fatty once he returned to take the pressure off.
But then after Sterlo had left, Chief was sacked and Matty Johns was punted for that incident in NZ. After that the show had really struggled, the Big Marn was ok, Vossy was there for a period before he moved to Fox, Slater was meh. They tried getting NRL players as regular hosts but some of them couldnt string too words together.
Fatty believes the early to mid 2000s was their best era