A product of the Riverina town of Temora, which has produced Trent Barrett, Zac Lomax, Liam Martin and Ryan Hinchcliffe, he also concedes rugby league is losing the numbers game to AFL. Ask the grandfather of these players what was the code differential back in their playing days and they say rugby league had a 90 per cent share of the talent. “The last 10-15 years, it has been 50:50,” says Payten. Nor does he believe the NRL gives sufficient consideration to the long-distance travelling clubs, the non-prime-time ones. “They’ve got to make smarter decisions about kick-off times in the first six weeks, nothing before 7.30pm,” Payten said, ahead of the Cowboys match against Souths in Perth. “We’ve already had two kick-offs at 4.30pm and the conditions have been horrendous for the players.” But he reserves most criticism for himself, saying of the Cowboys 0-3 start to the season where the lazy pundits already had him on death watch, admitting, “I under-estimated the impact of the changes in personnel with new halves, new wingers, new back-rowers.” The Cowboys are now 3-3. Aged 46, Payten has been slowly moving up the NRL’s food chain from player to assistant to head coach, with top tenures at Auckland and Townsville. Perhaps his years in the NRL’s outback reinforced in him the solitude of command because there is a hint in his comments of the loneliness of the long-distance coach. Payten points out he has had no continuing mentor, no membership of coach combines, although he has had some gifted assistants, such as Dean Young, who is now back with the Dragons. “I haven’t attached myself to anyone in the game,” he volunteers. “I’ve had to work hard to get where I’ve got.” But he aspires to being a lifer, saying, “It’s a privilege to be a head coach, although I understand how fickle the game can be.” Michael Chammas and Andrew “Joey” Johns dissect the upcoming NRL round, plus the latest footy news, results and analysis. Sign up for the Sin Bin newsletter.