Payne plays last game of league

AFTER 31 years, Robbie Payne finally hung up the footy boots.

Payne, who started his career with the Leumeah Wolves, played the last two seasons with Mittagong Lions.

He led the under-18s to two finals series and was a part of the first grade side that went down to Picton in two consecutive grand finals.

Payne first signed up the Leumeah Wolves as an under-6 player.

"Dad was a former player so it was natural that I was always going to go and play footy. I signed up with a couple of schoolmates and never looked back," he said.

From under-12s through to under-14s Payne was selected in the Mini Magpies before missing out on a spot in the Harold Matthews team.

But after earning himself a place in the SG Ball side, he then went on to play under-21s at the age of 17 and was then playing reserve grade by the age of 19.

"Reserve grade back in those days was hard football, not like the NSW Cup today. It was first graders coming back from injury or dropped for form.

"It was hard, it was tough and you got that crack in first grade every now and then because the gap wasn't that far between reserve and first grade."

The pinnacle of Payne's career came in 1999 when he played two games for the Western Suburbs Magpies in the NRL.

After he left Wests he made the Metropolitan Cup rep (now Ron Massey Cup) team in 2001 and played in that side for a couple of years before moving to Wollongong. Payne made the Illawarra rep team four years straight, winning the Country Championships three times during that period.

He has made the Country Firsts team twice, Country Seconds once and the Group 6 senior rep team twice.

As a senior player, he has been involved in five grand finals, winning just two of them with Collegians.

In the 2005 win, Payne received Illawarra player of the year and in 2007 was voted man of the match for the grand final.

Mittagong first grade coach Scott Borg lured Payne down to the Lions two years ago and said he had enjoyed his time with the club despite a premiership eluding him.

"I just like the culture of Mittagong, the mateship. I felt very old in a very young team but they're genuinely nice people and you fit in and when you're there it's professional.

"The two years I was there we achieved a lot, back to back club championships says a lot."

While the Lions were unable to send Payne out with a first grade premiership this year, a highlight of the otherwise disappointing grand final was the chance to play with his son Jack.

"His only first grade game this year was the grand final. I don't know how long till that will ever happen in Group 6 again but if it is some sort of record I'm proud to be a part of it."

Payne said he now hoped to get into representative coaching but would maintain his links with the Mittagong club to some degree.