North Queensland Fury’s Straka enforces some tough love on Payne

North Queensland Fury coach Franz Straka imposed some tough love on young striker Chris Payne on the weekend.

The 19-year old has started the season in impressive form which culminated in him being named the NAB Young Player of the Month for August but found himself on the bench for Saturday’s clash with Melbourne Heart.

Straka admitted Payne had been in good form but said some inadequacies crept into his game during the previous weekend’s match where the Fury lost 3-2 to Adelaide United.

"It's a sign to him not to stop the work, for him to get better, and better and better," Straka told the Townsville Bulletin.

"Payney has started the season so well, but there were phases against Adelaide that were not so good."

Straka also admitted that having such a long list of young players made things tough at times for the Fury but he would keep rotating those players so they continued to learn on the job.

"We have a young team and the balance of youngsters cannot be continual," he added.

"It's just normal for the young boys to be up and down. And it's not just Payney, it can be Isaka (Cernak) or anyone of those very young players. (The good thing is) that they want to learn and that this is okay."