Corey Payne (born 7 May 1984 in

Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

, New South Wales) is an Australian former professional

rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as rugby league in English-speaking countries and rugby 13/XIII in non-Anglophone Europe, is a contact sport, full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular Rugby league playin ...

footballer in the

National Rugby League The National Rugby League (also known as the NRL Telstra Premiership for sponsorship reasons) is a professional rugby league competition in Oceania which contains clubs from New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria (state), Victoria, the Austral ...

(NRL) competition. Payne played for the

Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs The Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs are an Australian professional rugby league club based in Belmore, a suburb in the Canterbury-Bankstown region of Sydney. They compete in the NRL Telstra Premiership, as well as competitions facilitated by ...

, the St George Illawarra Dragons and the

Wests Tigers The Wests Tigers is an Australian professional rugby league football team, based in the Inner West of Sydney and South Western Sydney. The Tigers have competed in the National Rugby League (NRL) since being formed at the end of the 1999 N ...

. He also represented NSW City. Payne primarily played at

lock Lock(s) or Locked may refer to: Common meanings *Lock and key, a mechanical device used to secure items of importance *Lock (water navigation), a device for boats to transit between different levels of water, as in a canal Arts and entertainme ...

Playing career

He played his junior football with the Chester Hill Hornets. Payne made his

NRL The National Rugby League (also known as the NRL Telstra Premiership for sponsorship reasons) is a professional rugby league competition in Oceania which contains clubs from New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria (state), Victoria, the Austral ...

debut in round 1 of the 2005 NRL season, scoring a try against Canterbury-Bankstown. He played in the club's preliminary final defeat against the

during the same season. Late in 2009, it was announced that Payne had signed for the

2010 NRL season The 2010 NRL season was the 103rd season of professional rugby league football club competition in Australia, and the thirteenth run by the National Rugby League (NRL). The season commenced on 12 March and ended with the grand final, played on 3 ...

with Canterbury, where he had played in lower grades. However, an injury to his shoulder in the pre-season threatened to sideline him for the rest of the year. He made his debut for Canterbury-Bankstown in the last round of the

. Payne was nominated for the Ken Stephen Medal for his contributions to rugby league off the field, and is well known for community and charity work. He graduated from the

University of Sydney The University of Sydney (USYD) is a public university, public research university in Sydney, Australia. Founded in 1850, it is the oldest university in both Australia and Oceania. One of Australia's six sandstone universities, it was one of the ...

with a bachelor's degree in commerce. In the

2012 NRL season The 2012 NRL season was the 105th season of professional rugby league club competition in Australia, and the first run by the newly formed Australian Rugby League Commission. The main competition, called the 2012 NRL Telstra Premiership due to spon ...

, Payne made 27 appearances for Canterbury as the club won the

Minor Premiership A minor premiership is the title given to the team which finishes a sporting competition first in the league standings after the regular season but prior to commencement of the finals in several Australian sports leagues. Origins The etymolo ...

and reached the 2012 NRL Grand Final. Payne played from the bench as Canterbury lost the decider 14–4 at ANZ Stadium. Payne retired from rugby league at the age of 28.

Post playing

On 14 April 2016 Payne was announced as the new

Penrith Panthers The Penrith Panthers are an Australian professional rugby league football club based in the Greater Western Sydney suburb of Penrith, New South Wales, Penrith that competes in the National Rugby League (NRL). The team is based west of the cen ...

CEO. He resigned from the position on 16 August 2016.

References

External links

Corey Payne at ''Wests Tigers''Corey Payne at ''NRL.com''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Payne, Corey 1984 births Living people Australian chief executives Australian rugby league administrators Australian rugby league players Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs players New South Wales City Origin rugby league team players Rugby league locks Rugby league players from Sydney Rugby league props Rugby league second-rows St. George Illawarra Dragons players University of Sydney alumni Wests Tigers players 21st-century Australian sportsmen