Royal Payne wants to accomplish more as he reaches 100

STEVEN Payne is about to reach 100 WAFL games with East Perth and is already a fairest and best winner, but the 25-year-old wingman is far from content with his achievements in his career to date.

Payne has made the wing position his own with the Royals since coming into the team midway through 2011 after a relatively long apprenticeship in the reserves.

Along the way, he won the 2014 fairest and best award and has been a key player in an East Perth team that made the 2012 first semi-final, grand finals of 2013 and 2014, and then preliminary final of 2015.

But as he is preparing for game No. 100 this Saturday against Perth at Lathlain Park, Payne is far from content and has his eyes firmly set on 150 games to earn life membership at the Royals and to win that elusive premiership having been so close for four years now.

Before he can try and achieve either of those, though, it’s his 100th game on Saturday and he’s hoping to celebrate with a win against the Demons to give the Royals three on the trot after losing the opening three of 2016.

“It’s a pretty big honour having your name up there under guys like Craig Glancy and Rod Wheatley. I’m looking forward to that,” Payne said.

It’s up there, but probably not right up the top. The 150 is the one I’m really looking forward to so I get the life membership, but it’s definitely good to get my name on the locker forever.

“I’ve got a few family members and stuff coming up from down south, and a few mates coming along to watch. It won’t be anything over the top, we’ll try to treat it like another game and I’ll just clock up the 100.”

Payne has been wearing the No. 2 jumper proudly ever since 2002 premiership player and 103-game star Craig Glancy retired when his body let him down in 2011.

That’s something Payne takes as a great honour given Glancy was the one player he looked up to more than any when he first made the move from Margaret River.

“It was a bit of an honour to get the No. 2. He actually came to me during the week that he retired and asked if I wanted the number. I thought he was joking because I didn’t really know he was retiring but it was an awesome honour. I’ve tried to do it justice since,” he said.

“Plucka is a down south boy like me and as soon as I came up he took me under his wing and showed me the way. ‘Pickers’ (Adam Pickering) is another one who was really good for me and he helped make the transition easy for me of moving to Perth.”

Playing on the wing is something Payne has made his own now for virtually every one of his 99 games for the Royals and it allows him to use his tremendous running power to full effect.

“I go through the middle sometimes but I find that restricts my running. Once I’m out on the wing I feel at home so I can use my run and work rate to work over my opponent. I like it out there,” Payne said.

“In the colts I played a fair bit on the wing and went through the middle a little bit more than I do now as well. But ever since I made myself in the league team I’ve been out on the wing and a little bit forward every now and then.”

East Perth the last four years have been close to a premiership but with two losing grand finals, a losing preliminary final and losing a first semi-final, it’s something that Payne still uses the painful memories from to spur him on and to remain motivated to keep trying to win the ultimate prize.

“The first one felt like a dream because we came from behind that season and then it was over and done with quickly. But looking back you think that really hurts now. It hurt at the time but now in hindsight it hurts even more knowing how we threw those two chances away,” he said.