Payne Haas is willing to leave as much as $2 million a season behind if it means winning an NRL premiership with the Broncos, who he says he wants to “repay” for standing by him through his early playing years.
Haas, who is arguably the best prop in the NRL right now — and quite possibly the best front row forward that rugby league’s ever seen, if you ask this Sporting Base writer — will always draw eyes when his re-signing date looms.
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That date is coming up again, with the 25-year-old State of Origin superstar able to speak to rival clubs from November 1 for a deal from 2027 onward. There’s no doubt every club in the competition, including the soon-to-join Perth and Papua New Guinea expansion outfits, will be champing at the bit to speak to him and sell them their long-term vision.
With those signing offers would come fat pay packets; if Haas’ agent Ahmad Merhi is to be believed, last time the New South Wales prop was off contract, one club offered a $2-million-a-season deal they had to turn down.
This time around, there’d be no question: Haas, already on $1.1M a year, would command that much.
But if you speak to the rampaging number eight, he won’t even entertain the idea.
“I’m not really money-driven, to be honest,” Haas said on the topic. “I could get big offers, but honestly, I love the club [the Broncos] so much, and I really don’t see myself playing for anyone else… I just want to win premierships.”
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“My priority is to stay in Brisbane,” he declared, doubling down on the NRL title dreams he has.
“I want to win and I love the boys here, I love the club, I love everyone there… I wouldn’t see the point of me going to market if we can get a deal done with Brisbane. I love the boys. There are so many of my good mates, and we’ve been together since I started.”
Never say never, of course, with Haas the first to admit that “you never know with rugby league, stuff happens” — but considering how much he values the Broncos standing by him through his tumultuous first years in the NRL and his run-ins with the law through 2019. So too when he pushed to leave the club in 2022 over internal issues.
“We know where we stand with Broncs, and they know what we want,” he said.
“They’ve stood by me a lot. I’ve made lots of mistakes early in my career, which I regret now, but they’re stuck by me, stuck solid.
“They didn’t have to stick solid by me, but they did.
“The only way I can repay them is to try and get a premiership.”
