Talk about a 'Coyne' slot.
Former Queensland Maroons back-rower Gary Coyne has certainly found his slot in his post-playing career as the owner of eight McDonald’s franchises in Brisbane’s north, where he employs 800 people.
As the 54-year-reflected on his playing days and beyond, the theme coming through loud and clear was that his time with the Canberra Raiders and Maroons set him up.
"I work with young people and see them come through from crew to senior crew and then onto senior managers, where they run multi-million dollar restaurants at 21 years of age, and that is a big buzz for me," Coyne said.
"Knowing that I had a big say in that person’s personal development is a real thrill and what drives me. McDonald’s is a great company to work with.
"For me it is a good fit because it is a team environment and that is what motivates me and keeps me pushing on."
Coyne’s biggest payday in his career was in 1991 when he earned $135,000. That year the Raiders reached the grand final, he played in a winning State of Origin series with the Maroons and represented Australia. That was a monster pay-day back then, but not in the modern era. It is not the dollars that drive him though.
As a player Coyne got the best out of his talents and it was not by coincidence.
"The thing that drove me back then, and still does today, is to always strive for success," Coyne said.
"I have always prepared for success and if you are going to win you have to be. I prepared to be the best second-rower on the field. It happened most of the time, but didn’t happen all the time.
"At McDonald’s, to be successful you’ve got to be doing the right things. You’ve got to be a leader in your community, a leader in the McDonald’s licensee field. You’ve got to be ticking all the boxes. It is very similar to my career as a rugby league player."
And what a rugby league career it was for Coyne, who won two premierships with the Raiders in a 159-game career, played 11 Origin games for the Maroons and represented Australia on two occasions on the back of hard work, discipline, focus and goal setting.
When Coyne played Origin football in the late 1980s and early 1990s it was a "Raidersathon" for both teams. In the NSW side, Raiders legends like Brad Clyde, John Ferguson, Ricky Stuart, Glenn Lazarus and Laurie Daley were front and centre. For Queensland there was Coyne, Mal Meninga, Steve Walters and Peter Jackson.
The build-up to Origin games in Canberra was tense.
"Our coach Tim Sheens picked up on it," Coyne recalled.
"You’d go to training and have your shower, get dressed and ready to go home but Tim would know when Origin was coming around because all of a sudden us Queensland guys would sit together and all the NSW guys would sit together.
"It was never spiteful. There was always total respect but it set the scene for what was to come. When it came to game day all bets were off for us Queenslanders, and it was the same for the NSW guys."
In 1989 Coyne found out when his sister Sandra called him that he had been selected for Queensland and was about to fulfil a lifelong dream since he was a lad playing footy in Ipswich.
He felt at home in camp, in that he’d played with Wally Lewis and Gene Miles previously at Wynnum Manly and had known Allan Langer and Kerrod Walters since he was a boy.
Coyne was nervous though about one thing, but those nerves soon dissipated when he finally met the Godfather of Queensland rugby league.
It was meeting Tosser Turner that made me the most nervous because everyone I knew spoke so highly of him.
Gary Coyne FOG #62
"He grabbed me and the first thing he said was 'about time you got here Coyney'. How do you think I felt?
"I’d just come into camp and realised dream, so after Tosser said that I wanted to play there and then. I felt welcomed and I was ready and raring to go.
"Tosser was a complete gentleman and a fantastic believer in Queensland rugby league. He was a legend.
"Our coach Artie Beetson, bless his heart, reckoned that 1989 team was the best Queensland team. It was a bloody good side."
Coyne played in a 36-6 win in the opening game of the series and then went to Sydney to be part of Queensland’s finest hour. When the siren sounded and the scoreboard read Queensland 16 NSW 12, the Maroons dressing sheds were a casualty ward. Only 12 men were on the field at the finish with Langer, Meninga, Paul Vautin, Michael Hancock and Bob Lindner all injured.
"It was a super effort. What I remember from that night is how determined we were and focused as a team to do it for the guys that were injured," Coyne said.
“That is what drove us and after the game grown men were crying because we had achieved so much. When we got to the third game back in Queensland, Wally just had us so focused on beating them 3-0 again it became our passion.
"We had to do it, and we did. The year culminated for me winning the grand final with the Raiders. How good was 1989? I will never forget it."
NSW won the 1990 series and by the time the 1991 decider at Lang Park rolled around Lewis was about to exit the Origin scene, unbeknown to his teammates.
"It was very special. We didn’t know it was Wally’s last game until just before kick-off,” Coyne said.
“He didn’t want the players to know. Tosser insisted he tell the boys. When he did I just remember having tingles through my body. That galvanised us even more to get out there and win the game for Wally.
“I had played three years at Wynnum Manly with him and four years of Origin and to send such a legend out a winner, I think we all achieved something special that night."
Coyne was part of a famous 14-12 win that evening and played his final Origin game the following season in 1992 at the age of 30.
"I can remember every game I played in Origin because it was a passion that had burned inside me my whole life," Coyne said.
"I was successful at it and I enjoyed it. I played it with pride, and to be able to do it with the guys I played with at Wynnum Manly and the Raiders is something I am still quite excited and humbled about.
"I get questioned about my interest in rugby league today and it gives me a thrill that guys like Kevie Walters, Mal Meninga, Bellyache, Laurie Daley, David Furner and Ricky Stuart are still successfully involved in the game.
"To see my ex-teammates excel makes me feel a part of the league still. It is one of the things I love because rugby league has been so good to me."
As Coyne reflected on his new career he reflected on how the ethos that he embraced in rugby league continues to inspire him in business.
"I have got 800 people working for me, from a managing director right down to the new 14-year-old crew kid starting their working life with us," Coyne said.
"I have been involved with McDonald’s for 25 years and to stay a part of it you’ve got to be a member of that team.
"As a player I was a participant, but I am the leader now. I am the coach.
"It all filters down from me. That was the key to the success of the Raiders and the Maroons where that team environment, respect and will to win was fostered from the top down. That is what drives me now in business. You’ve got to lead from the front."
