Tara Murray
Spotswood’s Matthew Payne experienced the highs and the lows at the recent AFL state combine.
Payne topped the table in the agility test and finished second in the 20 metre sprint, but his testing ended on a low note.
“It was a great experience,” he said. “I was a bit unfortunate, I did all the testing bar the two-kilometre as I strained my hamstring in my last 20 metre sprint I did.
“It was hard after all the effort I put in and the two-kilometre is one of the more important ones, along with the sprint.
“It’s probably the biggest indicator if you’re been training or not, I’d been training pretty hard for it.”
Payne is hoping to get the opportunity to put a time together before the draft to show the AFL recruiters what he can do.
Overall, Payne said he had expected to test well having had a bit of an athletics background, having been involved in Williamstown Little Athletics when he was younger.
The combine capped off a solid draft year season for Payne. He combined school football with Melbourne Grammar and playing in the NAB League with the Western Jets.
Payne said it was a really good experience to be part of both programs.
“Most western suburbs boys just play for the Western Jets, but I’m lucky enough to go to Melbourne Grammar as well,” he said.
“It was a good opportunity to get a feel for both leagues which are pretty different in many aspects.
“It was good to play with a lot of different body playing boys. At Melbourne Grammar you have the Sandringham and Oakleigh Chargers regions so it was a good opportunity to play with them, but I love playing with the Western Jets as well.”
Payne admits to putting high expectations on himself leading into the season and admits to putting too much pressure on himself at times.
He said the Jets staff helped him learn so much more about his game.
“I probably would have liked to have shown a bit more those things happen and you can’t have the perfect season and the perfect game, it’s pretty hard,” he said.
“As a small forward as well… you can’t always have great games and as the season grew on and I matured, I learned what was a good game for me and that was what really mattered.
“Robbie Chancellor, the Western Jets coach, Luke Williams, they were really good for me along with Jack Rhodes the wellbeing coordinator. They all helped me a lot and understanding what a good game looked like for me.
“As the season grew on and with the help of their support and my support network, my form really improved.
“I think in the back half of the year I thought I was putting in some good form.”
Payne played one trial game with Vic Metro, which he was happy with, but didn’t make the final team.
Payne, who models his game on Sydney forward Tom Papley, said football was always the goal like every other kid.
For now it’s about recovering from his hamstring injury and preparing for the coming months.
“The goal is to get the hamstring right and do well on my VCE exams,” he said.
“Come November, hopefully things go my way.”
