Todd Payten

Todd Payten (born 18 January 1979) is an Australian professional rugby league coach and former player, who is currently the caretaker head coach for the New Zealand Warriors in the National Rugby League. He previously played for the Wests Tigers, Sydney Roosters and Canberra Raiders in the National Rugby League competition. He primarily played as a prop-forward. He had previously had coaching roles with the Wests Tigers and the North Queensland Cowboys in the NRL.

Todd Payten
Personal information
Full nameTodd Owen Payten
Born (1979-01-18) 18 January 1979
Parramatta, New South Wales, Australia
Playing information
Height187 cm (6 ft 2 in)
Weight109 kg (17 st 2 lb)
PositionProp, Second-row
Club
Years Team Pld T G FG P
1996–02 Canberra Raiders 90 9 0 0 36
2003 Sydney Roosters 18 1 0 0 4
2004–11 Wests Tigers 151 9 0 0 36
Total 259 19 0 0 76
Coaching information
Club
Years Team Gms W D L W%
2020– New Zealand Warriors 1 0 0 1 0
Source: [1][2]

Background

Born in Sydney, New South Wales and raised in Temora, New South Wales. Payten played junior rugby league for the Temora Dragons and signed a scholarship with the Canberra Raiders when he was 16.

Todd was educated at Erindale College, Canberra and represented the 1996 Australian Schoolboys.[3]

Playing career

Canberra Raiders

Payten had played just 2 reserve grade games for the Raiders when he made his first grade debut with the club in 1996 as a 17-year-old.[4]

Over the next few years he gradually made more appearances for the Raiders, initially playing from the bench, until he cemented a position as starting prop in 2000.[5] He was a member of the Raiders team that played semi final football in 1997, 1998, 2000 and 2002.[5]

Sydney Roosters

Released from the final two years of his contract with the Raiders, Payten signed with the Sydney Roosters. Having won the 2002 NRL Premiership, the Roosters traveled to England to play the 2003 World Club Challenge against Super League champions, St Helens R.F.C.. Payten played from the interchange bench and scored a try in the Roosters' victory.

Wests Tigers

After being released by the Roosters, Payten joined the Wests Tigers in 2004, which meant he was being paid by three clubs.[3] Coach Tim Sheens said of the signing, "We had players like Johnny Skandalis who could take the ball up but what we were looking for was someone with a little bit of nous around his game."[6]

Payten was a member of the Wests Tigers side which won the 2005 NRL Grand Final, scoring a try in the final minute of the game.

Payten in 2008

In 2010, Payten was named in the Australian train-on squad for the Four Nations.[7] During that year's semi-finals, Payten suffered an injury to his ankle when he stepped on a tennis ball. He took no further part in the season, and missed games at the start of 2011 with knee and ankle problems. In an effort to return to full fitness, Payten underwent experimental stem-cell therapy, saying, "At the moment I'm retiring unless this works dramatically.".[8]

In early June, 2011, prior to the week 13 clash against the Newcastle Knights, Payten announced that it would be his last season,[9] after being one of an elite few players to have amassed over 250 games in the NRL. Payten said, "This isn't the way I wanted it to finish. If I'm really honest with myself, I'd be hard-pressed to continue on the way it's going at the moment. I can't."[10] Already a certificate-2 level coach, Payten said he intended to pursue coaching in the future. Payten made a few more appearances off the bench towards the end of the season, but was unable to participate in the semis due to another injury.

Highlights
  • First Grade Debut: Round 18, Canberra v Wests at Campbelltown Stadium, 3 August 1996
  • Premierships: 2005 - a member of the premiership winning Wests Tigers team which defeated North Queensland Cowboys, 30–16, and scoring one try in the final minutes.[11]

Coaching career

Shortly after his retirement in 2011, Payten was announced as the head coach of the Wests Tigers' NYC team for 2012.[12] In his first season as coach, the Tigers finished 4th in the regular season. They went on to win all their post-season games, including beating pre-game favourite Canberra Raiders 46-6 in the grand final.[13][14] He coached the side again 2013, before moving into an assistant coaches role with the Tigers' NRL side in 2014.

In 2013, Payten made his representative coaching debut, as his New South Wales Under-18 team defeated Queensland 56-6.[15] He coached the side again in 2014, with New South Wales winning 24-10.

In October 2014, Payten joined the North Queensland Cowboys as their NYC head coach for the 2015 season and assistant to head coach Paul Green's NRL side.[16] On 4 October 2015, Payten was a member of the Cowboys' coaching staff in the side's 17-16 Grand Final victory over the Brisbane Broncos.

On 8 August 2018, Payten signed with the New Zealand Warriors as an assistant coach for the 2019 season, replacing his former Raiders' teammate Andrew McFadden.[17]

On 20 June 2020, Payten was appointed caretaker head coach of the New Zealand Warriors following the sacking of Stephen Kearney.

Footnotes
  1. League Central
  2. Rugby League Project
  3. Daniel Lane (2009). Forever Brothers. Lane Cove, New South Wales: Dolphin Press. pp. 162–163. ISBN 978-0-9803578-5-1.
  4. Christian Nicolussi (24 March 2011). "Wests Tigers prop Todd Payten to play 250th NRL game on Saturday". Daily Telegraph (Sydney). Retrieved 29 June 2011.
  5. "Todd Payten Matches played for the Canberra Raiders". Rugby League Project. Retrieved 29 May 2010.
  6. Greg Prichard (29 June 2011). "Payten's place: prop leads by example, says Sheens". Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 24 March 2011.
  7. "Lote Tuqiri: from unwanted Wallaby to Kangaroos train-on squad". Sydney Morning Herald. 27 September 2010. Retrieved 20 October 2010.
  8. Glenn Jackson (20 May 2011). "Payten turns to experimental stem-cell therapy used on dogs". Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 26 May 2011.
  9. Ian McCullough (3 June 2011). "Wounded Tiger Lawrence up and running". NRL.com. Retrieved 3 June 2011.
  10. Josh Rakic (5 June 2011). "Payten didn't want to take Tigers for a ride". Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 5 June 2011.
  11. Brad Walter (4 October 2005). "How Payten's bid for glory was almost hamstrung". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 1 June 2008.
  12. "Payten new Tigers under 20s coach". Liverpool City Champion. 14 December 2011. Archived from the original on 26 April 2012. Retrieved 2 January 2012.
  13. Joe Barton (30 September 2012). "Tigers thrash Raiders in U-20s grand final". nrl.com. Archived from the original on 12 October 2012. Retrieved 10 November 2012.
  14. Jon Tuxworth (1 October 2012). "Former Raider takes Wests Tigers to grand final victory". Canberra Times. Retrieved 10 November 2012.
  15. Adam Kidd (27 June 2013). "Todd Payten enjoys representative win". weststigers.com.au. Archived from the original on 28 June 2013. Retrieved 27 June 2013.
  16. http://www.cowboys.com.au/news/2014/10/22/payten_joins_the_toyota_cowboys.html
  17. https://www.nrl.com/news/2018/08/08/incoming-assistant-coach-todd-payten-to-add-more-flair-to-warriors/

References

  • Alan Whiticker & Glen Hudson (2007). The Encyclopedia of Rugby League Players. Wetherill Park, New South Wales: Gary Allen Pty Ltd. p. 422. ISBN 978-1-877082-93-1.

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