Behind The Roar Wests Tigers

Joining us this week on our 50th episode of Behind the Roar is former Cowboys hooker, now Wests Magpies NSW Cup Coach, Aaron Payne.

Payne joined Wests Tigers in the pre-season, uprooting from Townsville for a sea change in the big smoke, and a fresh challenge.

After playing 219 NRL games across 11 seasons with the Cowboys, this fella has plenty of skin in the game, and can tell a yarn or two as well, like how he made a thousand bucks a minute when making his NRL debut.

We talk about the challenges and opportunities that come with the job as reserve grade coach, when, more often than not, the team changes from week to week. 

Payne talks about his own football journey and why the time was right for him to hang up the boots as a 29-year-old and turn his hand to coaching.  He also talks about the disappointment of losing the 2005 Grand Final, the No.9s competing with Api Koroisau for a Blues Origin berth, and away from footy, his love of fishing and thoroughbreds.

All that and more on our 50th episode of Behind The Roar.

On this week’s episode of BTR we learn a lot more about 21-year-old middle forward, Fonua Pole.

 

We chat about preparations for Saturday’s game against the Bulldogs, how some divine intervention helped him switch from Aussie Rules to Rugby League, and he also tells us about his ‘first true love’. 

 

As debate continues about banning the long kick-off, Fonua says he loves coming off the back fence, and reveals what goes through his mind at that moment just before ‘collision time.  

Of Tongan heritage, New Zealand-born, and raised in Melbourne, Fonua also reveals his entrepreneurial side, telling us about his latest clothing label and the inspiration behind its name, ‘live yourz’. 

 

All that and more on episode 49 of Behind The Roar.

On this week’s episode of Behind the Roar turn back the clock with two of Wests Tigers ‘Originals’ who played in the club’s first season in the NRL, and in the very first match against the Broncos at Campbelltown.



We chat to WT Player #8 Shane Walker – who zooms in from his worksite – and WT Player #15 John Skandalis – who strolls in from his worksite, the corporate sales suite at the Zurich Centre.

 

Both players reminisce about the good old days, excited about Saturday’s past players get together at Campbelltown, when suddenly informed mid-recording that former teammate, WT Player #4, had passed away.  

 

We talk about Terry - the footballer and the larrikin, we look at a couple of key battles that will take place on Saturday evening, including the match-up between two of the game’s best props, Stefano Utoikamanu and Payne Haas.

 

We also discuss the move of John Bateman to lock, the impending NRL debut of former Super Rugby star Solomon Alaimalo, and the rising stars involved in junior rep Grand Finals on Saturday at CommBank Stadium.

 

All that and more on episode 48 of Behind the Roar!

 

This week’s guest on BTR is former Panthers, Wests Tigers and NSW prop, Tim Grant.

Much of the chat with Tim is about his role at the Wests Tigers as head of wellbeing, and we take a deeper dive into the link between mental wellbeing and player performance. 

He talks openly about his own battles post-retirement, and the struggles of others who failed to cope when all they knew was suddenly taken away.  These days he’s helping players in many ways, whether just there as a friend who’ll listen, or helping them form a ‘plan p’ for the transition post-retirement.

He also talks about his penchant for pruning hedges, and his football-loving grandma who was a nurse, who would stich up the wounds of his fathers’ bush-footy teammates, without anaesthetic! 

All that and more in episode 47 of Behind the Roar.

In this week’s episode of Behind the Roar we chat to Wests Tigers very first captain, Darren Senter.

Senter played 226 NRL games in total over 13 seasons. He made his debut with Canterbury Bulldogs in 1992, playing three seasons at Belmore before joining Balmain in 1995, where he played five seasons there.

He played another five seasons at West Tigers but decided to hang up the boots in 2004.  Despite missing out on the club’s maiden premiership in 2005, he’s got no regrets about making that tough decision.

Senter was one of the more experienced heads in the side during an era that saw the emergence of future Wests Tigers greats, like Benji Marshall, Robbie Farah and Chris Heighington.  He talks fondly of all three men.

A hard-nosed hooker who was fitter than a fiddle, Senter draws some comparisons between the team from the early 2000s and the current squad.  

“We had a few really experienced guys like Terry Hill, Jarrod McCracken, Shane Walker and me, and then there was this batch of young guys coming through like Benji and Robbie.”

Ahead of our first home game in Campbelltown this season, Darren recalls the buzz around the place ahead of the team’s very first game at the same venue against the Broncos in 2000.  He says it was also at Campbelltown where he played perhaps the best game of his career.

We also chat about life after footy, the importance of staying connected with former teammates, why family matters so much, and the origins of his nickname ‘Hollywood’.

Wests Tigers CEO Shane Richardson joins us on this week’s episode of Behind the Roar to talk through some key elements of the club’s new strategic plan, and a whole lot more.


We talk about the importance of increasing Wests Tigers’ focus on the southwest corridor, our plan to be the number one development club in Sydney, and with Leichhardt Oval facing an uncertain future, we discuss the factors shaping the club’s stadia policy over the next few years.

We also reflect on Easter Monday’s marvellous win over Parramatta Eels, take look at this weekend’s game against the Dolphins, and we have an expanded segment of Questions from The Crowd. All that and more on episode 45 of BTR.