Forster-Tuncurry coach Robbie Payne makes his On The Bench debut while Bridgie's back from a week playing golf
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00:00 Good afternoon and welcome to week three of On The Bench, of course sponsored by our great
00:07 friends Classic Design Jewelers and another first for this segment.
00:11 Robbie Payne, the Foster Tumcurry coach, first time we've had a Foster Tumcurry guy or official
00:16 or coach to talk to, so Robbie thanks for coming in today mate.
00:18 No worries at all.
00:19 And of course our great friend Gary Bridge, back from a week's golfing holiday.
00:22 How'd you go mate?
00:23 Yeah, the holiday was good, golf wasn't that exciting but I had a good time.
00:29 Did you have much rain up there?
00:30 No, no, no, not, I've had rain before because you know bunkers were out of play but the
00:36 week we were up there, I think they're getting it again now so, but you know it's all sand
00:41 up there so the fairways are perfect, you know you need a couple of drying days and
00:45 they're good so.
00:46 How'd you hit them?
00:47 Ah, good on one day and not so good the other days but just up there for the, for the, yeah,
00:54 a few drinks afterwards.
00:55 Good on you mate.
00:56 Well of course, first for the segment last week, we went to Port Macquarie and Marty
01:02 Borg from the Port News turned in a play of the match performance in your spot Gary, bit
01:06 of pressure on you now to hold your spot?
01:08 Apparently so, I'll see if I can do me best and hopefully we get a few reviews on how
01:14 I went.
01:15 Well mate I can tell you now, you've got 100% support of the committee.
01:18 Oh, so I'm gone, that's it.
01:20 Read into that whatever you will.
01:23 And from last week's round, Nash Atkins from the William Club has named the winner of the
01:28 Menning Hotel Olbard Tavern Player of the Week so Nash we'll get your voucher out to
01:32 you sometime this week.
01:33 Hey Robbie, yeah, I think it's fair to say Robbie you took on the toughest job in Group
01:38 3 footy this year coaching the Hawks who had of course such a bad season, a bad year last
01:43 year right through the club.
01:44 What, what motivated you to do so?
01:45 Being a spectator the last couple of years and just sitting on the hill and having a
01:53 beer watching the game and just seeing a bit of the demise of the club.
01:58 It's a proud club.
02:00 It sort of took me back there, I couldn't be critical of the team or the club if I wasn't
02:07 willing to put my hand up and help out.
02:10 I did run into an old coach of mine from Sydney, Dave Nugent, and he sort of pushed a few buttons
02:15 and got me the leg up and asked me to put my resume into the coach the boys and we went
02:26 from there.
02:27 It has been a long off season.
02:29 We've obviously tried to stretch far and wide to get as many quality players into the club
02:34 as possible, without sending the club broke as well.
02:39 I think we've done that.
02:40 We are improving.
02:41 We're zero from two, but the weekend's game against Port, we muscled up and it was quite
02:49 a good contest for the whole 80 minutes.
02:53 We're on the right track.
02:54 We are getting there.
02:56 Yes, it was a big decision on the back of last year, but we've got good numbers at training
03:02 and there's good numbers within the whole club.
03:04 So it's really positive.
03:05 Bit of your background, Robbie, where are you from?
03:08 I'm from Hamilton, born and bred.
03:10 I played a bit of grade with the Western Suburbs Magpies.
03:14 I was there during the merger.
03:17 I played the inaugural year under the West Tigers banner and then from there I played
03:22 in the Ron Massey Cup, which is the Jim Beam Cup, Metro Cup back in those days, down the
03:28 Illawarra for a fair bit and finished playing in Group 6 when I was 40 years old.
03:35 The body really likes me now for that decision.
03:39 I moved up to Halliday's Point five years ago.
03:45 And you say when you got the club last year, they virtually had no players.
03:49 They were struggling to fill the reserve.
03:52 Did the club cast a wide net to get players?
03:55 Yes.
03:56 So we had to go back to have a look at last year, not dwell on last year, but have a look
04:04 at last year to see what happened, where it went wrong, why it went wrong and change that
04:10 culture and reach out to some local juniors that were part of the club in previous years
04:17 and quite successful years and try and coach them to come back to the club.
04:22 Not so much with the promise that everything's changed, because to change a culture it takes
04:29 a long time to do that.
04:32 But a lot of those guys have come back.
04:35 A mate of mine runs Country Rugby League Comprehensive and he shared basically my announcement as
04:44 the Hawks Coast.
04:45 He shared it online.
04:47 My oldest son plays footy over in England and he was in the French Elite One competition.
04:54 So my son shared it over in the UK, so it just went sort of viral over there and ended
05:00 up picking up the two pommies, Ben Fisher and Harry Reardon.
05:05 So that was quite good.
05:06 And Harry at the time, he'd been on holidays and just come across, he was in Bali and come
05:13 across all these knockabout Australian blokes from Coonabarabran and he enjoyed their company
05:18 so he said, "I'm coming to Coonabarabran of all places."
05:23 And that's how we got blokes like Tom Vardy, Dean Lewin.
05:29 Basically Harry said he's coming to Foster.
05:32 It was a pretty easy sell.
05:33 I just showed him a couple of aerial shots of Foster Tongari and the beaches and the
05:39 waterways, the location of the ground and sold him and he brought these country lads
05:44 over with him.
05:45 If he was in Coonabarabran, that would have moved him on straight away.
05:52 It was an easy sell.
05:53 With the greatest respect of Coonabarabran.
05:54 I've been there.
05:55 I've coached the countryside over there at Coonabarabran.
05:56 It's a nice little area.
05:57 But not as nice as Foster Tongari.
05:58 You've got the beach and pools.
05:59 Ben Fisher arrived at Tongari on the Saturday night and you had a training on the next day?
06:17 When Ben got on a plane, it was like minus 20 in London and it was a stinking hot summer's
06:23 day and we did a beach session.
06:25 We ran from the footy fields all the way up to past the rock pool.
06:32 So it's a fair run itself.
06:34 And then we did a bit of beach work and he had to wear socks on the sand because he was
06:40 burning his feet.
06:41 The heat obviously got to him.
06:42 It was probably a 30, 32 degree day.
06:43 I said, "Jump in the water, mate."
06:44 He was starting to boil.
06:45 I said, "Jump in the water."
06:46 He goes, "I can't.
06:47 I've never, I've never done that."
06:48 I said, "You've got to jump in the water."
06:49 He goes, "I can't."
06:50 I said, "You've got to jump in the water."
06:51 He goes, "I can't."
06:52 I said, "You've got to jump in the water."
06:53 He goes, "I can't."
06:54 I said, "You've got to jump in the water."
06:55 He goes, "I can't."
06:56 I said, "You've got to jump in the water."
06:57 He goes, "I can't."
06:58 I said, "You've got to jump in the water."
06:59 He goes, "I can't."
07:00 I said, "You've got to jump in the water."
07:01 He goes, "I can't."
07:02 I said, "You've got to jump in the water."
07:03 He goes, "I can't."
07:04 I said, "You've got to jump in the water."
07:05 He goes, "I can't."
07:06 I said, "You've got to jump in the water."
07:07 He goes, "I can't."
07:08 I said, "You've got to jump in the water."
07:09 He goes, "I can't."
07:10 I said, "You've got to jump in the water."
07:11 He goes, "I can't."
07:36 I said, "You've got to jump in the water."
08:04 He goes, "I can't."
08:05 I said, "You've got to jump in the water."
08:06 He goes, "I can't."
08:07 I said, "You've got to jump in the water."
08:08 He goes, "I can't."
08:09 I said, "You've got to jump in the water."
08:10 He goes, "I can't."
08:11 I said, "You've got to jump in the water."
08:12 He goes, "I can't."
08:13 I said, "You've got to jump in the water."
08:14 He goes, "I can't."
08:15 I said, "You've got to jump in the water."
08:16 He goes, "I can't."
08:17 I said, "You've got to jump in the water."
08:18 He goes, "I can't."
08:19 I said, "You've got to jump in the water."
08:20 He goes, "I can't."
08:21 I said, "You've got to jump in the water."
08:44 The group needs to start the competition at the beginning of April.
08:51 It doesn't matter if it runs in with Easter or anything.
08:52 You start training in January or some start in December, just one day a week or something.
08:57 But you've got to get it going just in case you have these, the weather we're having now.
09:03 You can get trial games against other areas because they start their competitions earlier.
09:08 That's right.
09:09 I do believe, we had some decent guys signed that ended up leaving the club.
09:17 I just can't get past the fact that once our draw came out, and at that stage it was mid-May,
09:25 I think those players that we signed looked at our draw and went, "Well, that's where
09:29 they come from.
09:30 That's like round six.
09:31 They've already had six games."
09:32 So they've moved back.
09:37 I think you're right, Bridgie, that we start the competition a bit earlier.
09:40 You can have spare weekends throughout the year for rain events.
09:45 Or if it doesn't rain, clubs can organise fundraisers and blokes can get over injuries.
09:51 The HIA rules allows the blokes to freshen back up again.
09:56 It gives you your volunteers a rest.
09:59 A couple of years ago we had to drop a semi-final at the back end of the game because we ran
10:08 out of weekends.
10:09 In this day and age I don't think that's acceptable.
10:13 Start a little bit earlier.
10:15 Everyone's happy.
10:16 You get your trial form in.
10:17 It's hot.
10:18 It's a bit hotter.
10:19 But you can play 20-minute quarters.
10:22 They've done it in Sydney before.
10:25 That doesn't make any difference.
10:27 To be fair, the clubs determine when the comp starts.
10:31 It's not the group that suggests something, but it's the clubs that say A on A at the
10:35 annual meeting.
10:36 You wonder why the clubs decided to say, "Let's go start in May."
10:41 Well, everything's up and running.
10:43 In every other group they're all up and they're four or five games in, as you said.
10:48 Back in the day, we can go back to when William Loxgurry started in the March and you played
10:53 three rounds.
10:54 Eighteen rounds a season.
10:55 Eighteen games a season because there were seven clubs in those days.
10:58 We never used to call the games off for ground availability because we just played.
11:04 We also played the June long weekend.
11:07 Who cares if the Kings were Kings on a birthday?
11:11 Not his birthday anyway.
11:13 But then again, had we started earlier this year, we could have come into a fair bit of
11:17 trouble too because of all this rain we've had.
11:20 You guys are on your games next week.
11:22 Robbie, has that been confirmed?
11:23 Yes, it's confirmed.
11:25 We're Saturday next week out at Wingham.
11:27 But there is some significant rain forecast this week and early into next week it's still
11:33 lingering around.
11:34 So, fingers crossed we get a game in next week.
11:38 How's your game?
11:39 Because if there's a great wet weather ground in group 3, it's Tom Currie.
11:43 How's that holding up?
11:44 Yeah, we trained on it last night.
11:46 We did an opposed session against Reserve Grade and it's fine.
11:51 It's in good shape.
11:53 Whilst we did float the idea of swapping the game, our return game in round 2 is our
12:04 All Boys Day and celebrating the reunion of the Clayton's Cup winning team and a couple
12:11 of Grand Final winning teams who also played Wingham on that day.
12:16 I think it was the '94 Grand Final.
12:19 I think it was.
12:21 That was a non-negotiable.
12:24 We did ask Wingham if they wanted to use Tom Currie's ground and they obviously take the
12:31 gate and the canoe and all that sort of stuff.
12:34 But they said no and I don't blame them.
12:36 No, the crowds, they get it.
12:38 They're grounds.
12:39 They probably wouldn't replicate it out there, I wouldn't imagine.
12:41 But speaking of crowds too, we spoke about this on the segment last week.
12:44 They had good numbers in the northern grounds, the first opening game of the season.
12:50 The crowd at your game on that opening match against Maclay was unbelievably good.
12:55 Yeah, and that's what obviously being new to the area, that was one of the biggest crowds,
13:01 the biggest crowd I've seen there.
13:04 But a lot of people that have been affiliated with the club for decades said they've never
13:09 seen a crowd that big.
13:11 That or pre-season there has been a big buzz around town.
13:15 Some of the boys are knockabout lads that in the off-season got around to a few establishments
13:21 and got to know the locals.
13:23 So all those locals jump on courtesy buses and come and watch the boys play.
13:30 Part of my signing with the club, the big focus for me was unity.
13:36 Right across the senior grades, the invitation is not just for the players, it's for their
13:45 partners, boyfriends, girlfriends, mums, dads, sisters, brothers, everyone.
13:49 We want everyone involved in the club.
13:51 We're in the club colours, supporting the sponsors and turning up and supporting the boys.
13:57 So they did that on that day.
13:59 And they were vocal, that's the last crowd I heard of around Grimms Ridge.
14:02 I was listening to people at Full Tom and walking in and out.
14:08 It was a positive vibe.
14:10 There was no "Oh, these blokes are going to get another long year."
14:14 I wasn't singing about the referee of course, but it wasn't bagging the team, which is a
14:21 good thing for you guys.
14:22 It is a good thing.
14:24 It was a big focus of mine.
14:26 I was probably more nervous going into that game than any game I've played in my footy
14:33 career.
14:34 Because the expectation, we signed well, trying to rebuild the club.
14:41 We knew we had to get off to a good start.
14:44 And we didn't do that.
14:46 You can blame a referee, but the referee didn't drop balls and miss tackles.
14:51 We did that well ourselves.
14:56 And we learned from that in the second game.
14:58 But the hype around town is still good.
15:01 Even some of the supporters that watched our Round 1 vs our Round 2 game, they can see
15:07 a dramatic difference in the game and where we're headed.
15:13 So it's good.
15:15 If you're not going to win the game, you at least want to be competitive.
15:19 And we're certainly doing that.
15:21 We spoke in the segment last week, I think the top four, a standout in my book, not necessarily
15:28 in this order, but Portsharks, McLeay, Winger, Manova, and the rest of you guys will play
15:33 off for that fifth spot.
15:35 Do you think that's fair, Sergio?
15:37 Yeah.
15:38 I have to be honest, I haven't watched, I didn't see too much Group 3 last year.
15:43 I was one of those supporters that the Hawks weren't going good, so I didn't watch too
15:47 many games.
15:48 I did watch the Major Semi and the Grand Final.
15:52 OBAR, they're a good team, they're a good club, and they've got access to good players.
16:01 So that's a credit to their club.
16:03 McLeay, they were fast, and they were quite well-drilled.
16:08 Bo Champion being a new coach there, he's got them firing early.
16:13 They had a little hiccup on the weekend, but that's not discredited on Winger either.
16:18 They were firing on all cylinders that day.
16:21 They were good, they got some good signings there.
16:24 Their lock, Lock Ford, I'm not sure of his name, he had an outstanding game on that day.
16:31 Sharks were good.
16:32 Sharks were very structured.
16:34 They were physical themselves.
16:37 It was a quality game, and the 18-0 scoreline just really didn't reflect the game itself.
16:44 They'll certainly be there again, the Sharks.
16:48 Gary, one of your old clubs, Gary Winger, they flew on the radar a bit, we'll probably
16:54 be discounting them a little bit.
16:55 Probably not in the same quality as those top four, but they showed last Sunday at Kempsey
17:00 that they're a real chance.
17:02 Well, Kempsey's always hard to beat at Kempsey.
17:04 Very hard to beat at Kempsey.
17:05 Away, it just depends who turns up at Kempsey when they go away.
17:09 It was a bit of a surprise packet, and I've still got my nephew to come back into that
17:13 team, Timmy, Timmy Bridge.
17:15 Yeah, a lot of locals playing, and as you said, Robbie, you've got to rely on locals
17:22 and try and get the locals back in and the community, and what they've done up there
17:25 in the off-season with the grandstand and that, and named the grandstand after a couple
17:31 of legends from up there.
17:32 So, you know, their support, and if you get really good support at your home games, it
17:38 lifts the players.
17:39 So, probably Winger, you know, with Tari again, got a few new players, and they've went down
17:48 to Port Sharks at 16-4, the only game they've played, and that was up there.
17:55 Yeah, I can't even think, 12-0, a couple of minutes to go.
17:58 Yeah, so it wasn't, they didn't get smashed.
18:01 Yeah, so I think the competition this year is a hell of a lot closer than what has been
18:07 in previous years.
18:08 So, Warhope, well, they've sort of, they've got to compete with the Saturday League up
18:14 there, haven't they, Warhope, because they're, and so is Kempsey, I suppose.
18:17 And also the Port Cubs too, yeah.
18:19 Port City is the one, the club that's probably shocked everyone because they've been up there
18:23 for so many years, and all of a sudden they don't seem to be as strong, but if they don't
18:27 have a real good year this year, you go and see, there'll be something on the cards next year.
18:32 Yeah, well that's their Bulls play, or Spurs play this weekend, would have been a big game
18:36 for both of them.
18:37 Obviously, I'll put Macquarie, but I won't be going ahead, I'll assume I won't be going
18:41 ahead.
18:42 But your game next weekend is Winger and Robert, it's pretty important, you don't really want
18:46 to go 0-3, do you?
18:47 No, no, we certainly don't want 0-3, and then running into Old Bar the week after that.
18:52 He's got a tough draw.
18:54 It is, it's a real tough draw.
18:57 It sounds a bit like Cronulla Sharks, it's a draw for the next five weeks.
19:01 Yeah, all the top teams want to go, but we've got to know where we're at.
19:06 It is a new club, I think it's about, in a squad of 17, it's probably 70% new, and they've
19:15 never played together themselves, no trial form.
19:19 You can do opposed sessions and training as much as you want, but until someone's built
19:24 new, and your mindset changes once you're saken, fatigued, you don't know where you
19:29 are.
19:30 So, it's good that we've got the harder teams first up, it's quite grounding, like I said,
19:36 against Maclay Valley we were pretty ordinary that day, and against Port, we actually were
19:42 pretty good.
19:43 We had a 10 minute lapse, we had 11 players at one stage, and right in the last two seconds
19:49 of that first in-binning, Port Sharks, they scored a try out wide, just through an overlap,
19:58 probably 30 seconds before half-time, so I was near law until that point.
20:02 It was a bruising encounter, and then straight after half-time, they stripped us on the same
20:07 side, two quick tries and that was it.
20:11 A little space of 10 minutes, we bundied off and it was 18-0.
20:17 Credit the Sharks for capitalising on that.
20:20 You've got a couple of good kids out there too, like Will Clifton, Tony Clifton's grandson,
20:25 Ashton Hill, they share a promise.
20:28 Yeah, Ashton's been unreal, he had a big off-season with the Knights under-20s, decided Newcastle
20:35 wasn't for him, and come back to the club.
20:39 He put on a bit of weight down there, a bit of muscle mass, and we started the season
20:44 with him playing lock, and he's like a young Cameron Murray.
20:49 He's got good leg speed, he's a tough little bugger, he gets in, gets involved, he doesn't
20:56 take a backward step from anyone, he's just learning the ropes of playing in the forwards
21:01 and how quick your lactic build-up hits you and your recovery on the back of that.
21:06 He copped a knock on the weekend, so we lost him at half-time for the rest of the day.
21:13 And young Cliffo, he had to start hooker and played most of the game at hooker last weekend,
21:21 so that was his starting debut for the club.
21:25 He's still only 18 years old.
21:28 Byron Short had to play in the hares because Harry Reid and the Pommie, he had the week
21:34 off with the head-knock protocols.
21:37 Cliffo went well.
21:40 He's a tough little kid that's only going to get better and better as he gets older
21:43 and more experienced.
21:45 I thought he actually, when he came on against McLeigh, he sort of helped turn you guys around.
21:48 He did.
21:49 He was getting up from Dummy Half and making a bit of ground.
21:51 Yeah, that's right.
21:52 And Byron looked probably a little bit more composed in the half still when he went back there.
21:56 He did, yeah.
21:57 And that's his bread and butter throughout his whole career.
22:03 Last week he had to play 80 minutes, the old bloke.
22:06 Oh, did he? Really?
22:07 Yeah, he turned 38 yesterday, so he's an old man now.
22:12 But yeah, he had to play the whole 80 last week, so we had to hide him on the wing at times in defence.
22:19 But he did a good job and he's doing a great job as a leader and as a captain for that club.
22:24 38 months upon a time, I always said, 38, he's an old man now, he's a kid, isn't he?
22:29 We'll get away from Group 3 just for a little while.
22:33 Gary, coming towards the State of Origin, who do you reckon the halfback, sorry the 5'8" and fullback for NSW will be?
22:39 I think he's definitely got to be the fullback is Dylan Edwards from Pannerath.
22:46 What he does on the football field now, the metres he gains, just puts himself in the picture.
22:52 Tommy Tvorevich is out now with the hamstring again.
22:55 The place they need is the centres.
23:00 We usually pick fullbacks and put them in the centres, don't we?
23:05 I think Latrell, if he's come back from this suspension, he could be picked in the centres.
23:12 I think with young Crichton from the Bulldogs.
23:17 The 5'8", it's only going to be out of two players, it's going to be out of Matt Burton and Nicko Hines.
23:24 Out of one of them it should be the 5'8".
23:28 Who are your favourite, being a former 5'8" yourself?
23:30 Well Nicko Hines.
23:32 What he does with Cronulla, I know he's playing halfback there, but he had that one miss up there last year, the year before last year,
23:41 when they picked him and put him in the centres.
23:43 He's never played centre in his life and then they dropped him and that needs confidence for all the good.
23:49 I'd be Nicko Hines or Matty Burton because Matty Burton's doing a fair bit.
23:56 I still think he's a better runner, Matty, but he's got that kicking game on him.
24:00 Nearly hits the moon, doesn't it?
24:02 What about you Robbie? Who would you pick?
24:05 Yeah, I agree with all those.
24:09 Dylan Edwards, I'm not a Turbo fan because he wears Manly colours and I don't like Manly.
24:15 That's an old Wesson Sydney boy there.
24:17 Yeah, there was a bloke named Tommy Rudonigas who used to kill that.
24:22 Dylan Edwards, over the last three or four years, he's been a leader amongst that Penrith team.
24:33 I'd like to see him get another crack this year.
24:37 Jerome Louis, if he's fit and clear, it's just that combination.
24:45 You can even throw up Appy Coruscant at nine and that just brings back that spine.
24:56 I think Coruscant might be thereabouts as long as he gets over a few injuries.
25:01 It just brings that combination back together of that spine. It'll work well.
25:08 But yeah, Burton's a big body and he's playing good footy.
25:14 I think he's been consistently good for Canterbury over the last couple of years.
25:19 You say that when he whacks that ball in the air.
25:21 That young Walsh from Queensland, great player that is.
25:24 I don't think he's confident under a high ball.
25:26 I think there's a lot of them that don't want to catch that.
25:28 I don't think anyone's particularly confident under them.
25:30 Can I just mention when we talked about Coonabarabin earlier,
25:33 about they'd come over here because of the beach.
25:37 I took a country under-16s side over there to play Queensland.
25:41 The country NSW side, the colours were maroon and yellow.
25:48 Walking down the street in Coonabarabin, the main street,
25:52 there's not a lot happening other than the main street.
25:56 I'm walking down there and these people are looking at us going,
25:58 "Why aren't they sort of saying, 'Come on, you, you, come on'?"
26:01 I walked over to one of them and I said,
26:03 "Why aren't you just cheering for us?"
26:05 He said, "We don't go for Queenslanders."
26:08 I went, "What? I thought we're NSW." He said, "You're wearing maroon."
26:14 Nothing against the Coonabarabin people.
26:16 Their quality are what NSW are good at.
26:20 Did you beat them? Did you win over there?
26:22 Yes, we did.
26:23 Yes, a bloke called Ewan Aitken, he was in our centres and he tore them apart.
26:31 He did that last night too.
26:33 Yes, he did too.
26:34 He's a big strong bloke.
26:36 Unfortunately, I don't think there's going to be any footy this weekend.
26:39 I think it will be confirmed by now because this segment was filmed earlier in the day.
26:45 We've got this week off.
26:47 Spare weekend next weekend, there's going to be a couple of games,
26:49 which is a good thing.
26:50 We'll be back next week, of course.
26:53 If you're not going to footy this weekend, enjoy yourself.
26:55 Robbie, thanks very much for coming in.
26:56 No worries.
26:57 Enjoy the company. We'll get you back before the year's through.
26:58 Gary, can I just say, stellar return, mate.
27:00 Thanks.
27:02 You definitely got the support.
27:05 You're safe another week.
27:07 Okay, we'll see you all next week.
27:09 Bye.
27:10 [END]