Our Sporting Stars: Rugby league legend Dean Pay

As a player, Dean Pay was one of the toughest forwards of his time.

During spells with the Canterbury Bulldogs and the Parramatta Eels he was a tough-as-nails front-rower who led his side from the front.

The proud Dubbo product, who went on to play State of Origin and represent his country, charged forward and put his side in a better position.

And since becoming a coach who has plyed his trade in Group 11, overseas and now in the NRL premiership, things are exactly the same.

When talking to Pay its clear he wants his players and his side to be better.

When talking about his time playing with the Canterbury Bulldogs he said winning a premiership in 1995 was "what it's all about" in any player's career but adds his squad should have won more.

Then, when discussing his time coaching Dubbo CYMS the 2007 Group 11 premiership was described as a "great" win with some "great" players but it was the same feeling  - we should have won more.

And now he is assistant coach to Ricky Stuart at the Canberra Raiders, a club which has risen to be part of the NRL premiership conversation in 2017.

But rather than play that down or shirk away from it, Pay said his players need to embrace that expectation and adds his side is a premiership hope this season.

Even when it comes to harness racing, such a big part of the Pay family, its clear he had that confidence and ambition to achieve.

"I drove a couple of winners and a few mates reckon I was not that good a driver but I beg to differ," he said.

Pay is a winner.

He puts it down to the hard work he was willing to put in when he first moved from Dubbo to Sydney after linking up with the Canterbury Bulldogs.

But it also comes down being a country kid, something which made him keen to do all the work.

"I started like every kid, playing with your mates on the weekends because you love footy and it just started from there and it goes on and on and on," he said, before saying when he realised he could make a career from rugby league.

"Once you get picked up by a Sydney club. But even then there's still a long way to go.

"You move away from your friends and family and that's all comes into it but if you're willing to put in the effort you can get there.

"It's totally different (in Sydney). For myself it was a real shock how hard the training and work was and then homesickness comes into and gets to you.

"You miss home and your mates and its a real shock to the system but once you get through the first 12 or 18 months it’s easier."

Having been there and done it himself makes Pay even more proud to see a number of the region's local juniors playing in the NRL currently.

Isaah Yeo and Connor Watson are making a real impact at the Penrith Panthers and Sydney Roosters respectively, while the likes of Braidon Burns, Kaide Ellis, Brent Naden and Jesse Ramien are players from this region who are in NRL clubs and Macquarie junior Harry van Dartel is with Pay at the Canberra Raiders, about to play his second year or under-20s.

"It's a thing I've always been conscious of, to keep an eye on the Dubbo kids and I'm always proud of them," Pay said.

"It's good to see how well they've done and I'm really excited for them.

"Isaah has been going great and he's got a bright future ahead of him."

Pay is just one example of a player from a country region who has gone on to play at the highest level and been described as "tough".

Pundits and commentators use that word on almost every player from a regional area who tests their skills in the NRL, saying where they played their junior footy helped them deal with physical and bruising nature of the game at the highest level.

Pay agrees its easy to spot a player who grew up in the bush, but not for those reasons. Its easier to spot a country kids off the pitch than on it, according to him.

"It's their upbringing, their parents and just the way bush kids are brought up," he said.

"There's not much to do with footy. It's the kids' values and what they believe in, and that's not to say other kids don't have that but that's how I can always pick the country kids.

"You can certainly pick country kids because they're very polite, well-mannered and they've just got some good values."

As a proud country product, Pay admits he’s biased when discussing the future of the game.

Rugby league has done nothing but grow since his time playing and now millions of dollars are invested in the sport.

Through broadcast deals and sponsorship the game continues to make money and Pay is one of the many who agree some of that cash needs to funnel through to help grassroots footy.

“People put a lot of money in the game so obviously the game is doing something right. It's a great product,” he said.

“I'm obviously very biased but I'd love to see whatever can be done. They (country associations) need help, even in the basics like insurance, buying jumpers and those kind of things.

“I talk to Bernard (Wilson) and those guys running Dubbo St John's and I they always tell me how tough it is to organise a club so would be great for them to get some more help.”

While disappointed to see the end of the City-Country fixture after this season, Pay added the game had gone away from what it had always been, saying “it had sort of run its course”.

“We need to play some more premiership games in country areas, that should be the priority,” he said.

The Country-City fixture is just one part of the sport which has vastly changed since Pay’s time on the field.

The prop played 184 top-flight matches, and was heavily embroiled in the Super League war when siding with the Australian Rugby League.

Pay had carved out a successful career with the Bulldogs, winning a premiership in 1995, when the war began.

After first announcing that his future lay with the Bulldogs in the Super League, he and three team-mates, Jason Smith, Jim Dymock and Jared McCracken, opted out of the deals and were dropped by Bulldogs’ coach Chris Anderson.

But they successfully proved their Super League contracts invalid in court, and went on to sign with the Parramatta Eels. Pay spent four seasons there but his time at the Bulldogs will never be forgotten.

“To win a grand final, that's what it's all about,” he said of 1995.

“I had a good time there and we probably should have won more but one is better than none.

“I enjoyed my time at the club, it's a fantastic club and they were good to me and my family and I really enjoyed it.

“And the representative games are a bonus and to get selected in those and play and get a jumper, I was fairly lucky to grab it.”

After his retirement, Pay ended up back out west.

He drove horses in harness racing around Dubbo and the wider region, even guiding his own Esron Rooster to seven wins. The horse was one of his best, scoring a win at Harold Park while in his care.

“There was not much success but I enjoyed it and I was brought up with the trots,” Pay said.

“Dad and a couple of brothers still have them and it's always been a part of the family.”

Rugby league has also been part of the family and it wasn’t long before Pay was back involved in the game, becoming the coach of Dubbo CYMS in 2007.

And it didn’t take him long to succeed.

While Pay, still to this day, credits the players he had at his disposal, it was clear even then he had what it takes to be a leading coach.

Pay led a Fishies side, featuring the likes of Wes Mass, Bernard Wilson and Josh Large, to the title.

“We had a really good team and should have won two (titles), really. We had Maasy, Largey and a lot of good players who made it easy for me to coach,” he said.

After winning the title in 2007, CYMS missed out in 2008 as the side was defeated by crosstown rivals and Pay’s junior club, Macquarie, in the decider.

And while he was coaching at Dubbo, Pay was even then beginning to dip his toes into becoming a mentor at the highest level.

In 2008, as well as coaching CYMS, he assisted Ricky Stuart with the NSW Country side.

Pay and Stuart were close friends and that continues right through to this day, with Stuart the coach and Pay the assistant at the Canberra Raiders.

It was 2008 where Pay got his first taste of top-flight coaching and it was only a year later when he departed Dubbo again, this time bound for France.

He was named as Kevin Walters’ assistant at Catalans in the Super League and after a short spell there he returned to Australia when named as under-20s coach at the Melbourne Storm.

That was followed by a spell under Stuart in his ill-fated time in charge of Parramatta while the reputation of both men has grown since taking on jobs at Canberra.

“I've known him for a long time,” Pay said of his mate Stuart.

“We played in a  lot of rep teams together but we both have still got a job to do. I can give my opinion and Rick values that and will say if he doesn't agree and if I don't agree I'll tell him that.

“But its been a pleasure to see him get this success.”

While he considers Stuart a true mate, Pay has ambitions of his own.

He has been touted as the next Bulldogs head coach, with Des Hasler under pressure to succeed this season and Pay doesn’t shy away from the fact he would love to test himself in a top job.

“If one was to come up and it suited me I'd certainly look at it, no two ways about it but there's only 16 jobs,” he said.

“It's one of those things where you've got to bide your time and if it comes along I'll look at it but if not, I'm pretty happy where I am.”

And he appears to be in a good place as the Raiders have become a genuine premiership threat.

Stuart has put together a side which thrills in attack but can also do the hard yards, with a host of powerful forwards, some in the mould of Pay himself back in the 1990s, pummelling opposition lineups.

“People are talking and we're starting to feel a bit of expectation and that's a good thing,” Pay said of the Raiders, before speaking about the upcoming NRL season.

“It will be an even competition. Sharks have a lost a couple with (Michael) Ennis and (Ben) Barba going so I don't think there will be much in it, that's for sure.

“A number of teams will be better. The Roosters will be better and Souths too, there's a lot of the teams who were at the bottom who will be really good.”

But despite the high level of competition this season, Pay knows his side is as well-placed as anyone to end a premiership drought which stretches back to 1994.

“That's the goal and if it comes off it will be fantastic and we're no without a chance,” he said.

“I'd probably be more excited for Rick than anything, the way he has brought this club back to where it should be.”