Dean Pay
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| Born | 3 June 1969 Dubbo, New South Wales, Australia | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Height | 187 cm (6 ft 2 in) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Weight | 102 kg (16 st 1 lb) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Position | Prop, Second-row | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Dean Pay (born 3 June 1969) is an Australian former professional rugby league footballer and former head coach of the Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs in the National Rugby League (NRL), a professional player who played in the late 1980s and 1990s.
He played for the Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs and the Parramatta Eels. He was an Australia and State of Origin representative for the NSW Blues. Widely regarded as "one of the greats", he was instrumental in the Bulldogs' success during the early 1990s, Pay was a skillful ball-playing forward and an especially strong defender.
Pay was born in Dubbo New South Wales on 3 June 1969.
He played his junior rugby league for St Johns JRL.
Playing career
Pay made his first grade debut for Canterbury-Bankstown against Eastern Suburbs in Round 21 1989 at Belmore Oval.
Pay was first selected to play for the New South Wales Blues in Game 2 of the 1994 State of Origin series at second-row forward, retaining his spot for Game 3. At the end of the 1994 NSWRL season Pay played at second-row forward for the Bulldogs in their Grand Final loss to the Canberra Raiders. He was then selected to go on the 1994 Kangaroo tour.
In a career-defining moment during the 1995 ARL season's semi-finals campaign, Pay broke the ribs of star Brisbane forward Glenn Lazarus in the opening moments of the match, greatly hindering the Broncos in their Premiership ambitions. After winning the 1995 ARL Premiership with the Super League-aligned Bulldogs, the club lost Pay, along with other key players, Jim Dymock, Jason Smith and Jarrod McCracken, to the ARL-loyal Parramatta Eels. He was appointed the club's captain for the 1997 and 1998 seasons. Pay captained Parramatta to their first finals campaign in 11 years when the club finished 3rd in the 1997 ARL season. Parramatta would go on to lose 28–20 against the Newcastle Knights in the first week of the finals despite leading 20–0 at halftime. The following week, Parramatta were eliminated from the finals after losing to North Sydney 24–14.
The following season in 1998, Parramatta finished 4th and defeated eventual premiers Brisbane 15–10 at the Queensland Sport and Athletics Centre. In the preliminary final against Pay's former club Canterbury, Parramatta led 18–2 with less than ten minutes remaining and looked destined to reach their first grand final since 1986. In the following minutes, the Eels suffered one of the worst collapses in finals history occurred when they conceded three tries and ultimately lost the match in extra time 32–20. Pay was selected to play for Australia from the interchange bench in the 1998 Anzac Test.[3][4]
In Pay's final season at Parramatta, the club finished 2nd and reached the preliminary final against Melbourne. Parramatta lead 16–0 at halftime but lost the match 18–16. The loss was also Pay's final game as a player.[5]
In 2002, Pay was inducted into the Parramatta Eels hall of fame.[6]