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.