Close as brothers: Dean Pay and Ricky Stuart reflect on 25 years of friendship

Ricky Stuart and Dean Pay have been mates for almost 25 years - not that you’ll get them to admit it - but the two will put that aside on Saturday night.

Coach Ricky Stuart (L) with friend and former player Dean Pay, who he called upon for assistance this week, during Cronulla Sharks NRL training session at Toyota Park, Cronulla in Sydney. Picture: Phil Hillyard

It’s no secret a lot of NRL coaches don’t like each other. Ricky Stuart and Dean Pay are a little different. They don’t just like each other, they love each other, like brothers.

So much so, you ring up to do a nice story about their friendship ahead of Saturday night’s clash between Canberra and Canterbury at ANZ Stadium, and all either of them want to do is bag the other.

“Mate, I will tell you about Deano,” Stuart kicked off.

“When he rings you wouldn’t know he was the one who made the call, because you have to make all the conversation.

“I’ll say to him, ‘How you going mate?’

“He says, ‘Good’.

“I say, ‘Oh, okay, what are you up to?’ ‘Nothin’.’

“Don’t forget, he’s rang me.

“So I say, ‘How’s the family?’ “Good’. ‘What else is going on?’ ‘Nothin’.’

“He’s hopeless.”

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Stuart and Pay are mates from their playing days.

And while Stuart and Pay would never normally miss the chance to catch up for a beer, this week Stuart didn’t even bother to ask.

“He lives too far away from the city and the fat bastard wouldn’t come into town anyway,” Stuart joked.

Yet it’s a friendship that has now stretched 25 years, and counting.

Kicking off way back in 1994 when Stuart was already one of the game’s biggest stars and the tough-as-nails enforcer from Dubbo emerged on the rep scene like a thunderbolt.

“I don’t know what it was but we just hit it off straight away,” Pay explained.

“I am from the country and we both enjoy a beer and a bet.

“So we had a bit in common.”

Stuart added: “We played Origin together that year and we got on real well. Anyway, we ended up playing in the grand final against each other (where Canberra beat Canterbury) and we got together the next day when we met up for the Kangaroo medical.

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“Everyone knows Deano is a shy bastard. So he said to me, ‘What’s the chances of rooming together?’ And I’d been with Laurie (Daley) on the last tour, so I went to Carry (team manager Geoff Carr) and said, ‘Not brushing Loz, but I wouldn’t mind looking after Basil and making him comfortable’.”

And from three months rooming together they have remained as tight as any two blokes in the game ever since.

Working together as coaches at the Sydney Roosters, Parramatta and later Canberra, with Pay riding shotgun as Stuart’s long serving assistant, before he was offered the top job at the Bulldogs last year.

“Everyone knows how passionate he is, and I’m probably the opposite,” Pay continued. “But I think that is why we lasted so long together.

Pay was Stuart’s lead assistant at Canberra for a time. Picture by Phil Hillyard.

“He is a demanding little p****. But I loved playing footy with him because I thought that made me play better.

“I didn’t think about it too much at the time, but you look back now and you realise he was good for my game.”

Stuart doesn’t hide from the fact Pay was equally good for him.

“Deano is one of the most loyal people you will ever meet,” Stuart said.

“He is someone who would always tell me the truth.

“Sometimes you might not want to hear it, but he will tell you anyway.”

Though this week they haven’t bothered to get in contact.

“This is the type of week where he will bullshit to me,” Stuart added.

“But put it this way, we will have a beer after the game.

“Because in all my years of playing and coaching rugby league, having Deano as a mate is one of the best things that has happened to me in the game.”