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When it comes down to dollars and sense, Payne Haas would be throwing away a surefire fortune for a massive risk if he seriously contemplated a switch to rugby.
It’s not that he doesn’t have the talent but as a forward in either code, his chances of making a successful switch are tiny.
The difference between the on-field duties performed by a forward in league and what’s required from the rugby pack are chalk and cheese.
In league it’s all about endurance, tackling and work rate but in rugby it’s a much more technical game with lineouts, scrums and ruck and maul work which cannot be learned overnight.
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Code hopping for backs is hard enough but for forwards, it actually is a different sport altogether.
Blues prop Payne Haas. (Photo by Mark Kolbe/Getty Images)
And Haas is hurtling headlong into a guaranteed multimillion-dollar pay day at the Broncos.
He’s been underpaid after getting a lower than market value first big deal with Brisbane.
They’ve been keen to extend him but due to a dispute with his previous management that has been delayed.
Not even 12 months ago, Haas requested an immediate release when he was frustrated by his contract dramas. The Broncos held firm, their fans did the rest by booing Haas whenever he touched the ball the next time he set foot on Suncorp Stadium and the request disappeared with the velocity that the big forward usually reserves for opposing defenders.
A recent meeting between Haas and Rugby Australia types “somehow” found its way into the mainstream media. And lo and behold, RA’s chief executive Hamish McLennan was happy to provide quotes to talk up the chances of Haas one day wearing Wallaby gold.
League types don’t like pot stirrers. Unless they’re the ones in the kitchen.
Not that Broncos coach Kevin Walters seems too worried about all the fuss.
“I’m very confident that that will happen, it might take a few weeks but I’m sure that Payne wants to stay and we certainly want to keep him,” Walters said at his captain’s run media conference on Thursday in the lead-up to the relocated Eels home game in in Darwin.
“I believe Payne belongs in a Broncos jersey.
“Right now he’s playing great footy for us and I expect that to continue tomorrow night.”
The Broncos will make the NSW and Australian front-rower the highest-paid prop in the game by extending his tenure as long as they can.
Nicho Hynes has the longest guaranteed deal at the moment after inking a contract recently with Cronulla until the end of 2029. He’s 26. Haas is still only 23. He’s got another decade ahead of him and it wouldn’t surprise if Brisbane sign him into his 30s into the 2030s.
(Photo by Cameron Spencer/Getty Images)
Brisbane dodged a bullet when they refused to overpay for David Fifita a few years ago when the Titans tempted him south on a lucrative deal of the annual seven-figure variety.
They will lose Tom Flegler to the Dolphins next year and while he can have an impact, he is not in the same league as Haas or Patrick Carrigan for that matter and the Broncos would be doing themselves a disservice if they went all in for him as well.
Haas has again been dominant for the Broncos this season as they have stormed to the top of the ladder on the back of a 6-1 record.
His all-round influence is almost seen as a given these days that it doesn’t warrant the attention it deserves.
Haas is the NRL leader in post-contact metres and it’s not even close with 91.1 per game, well clear of the next best, Panthers winger Brian To’o (76.9). He also has the most offloads after seven rounds with 20 and is top five in run metres (second with 220 per game, just behind Knights fullback Lachlan Miller’s 224) and tackle busts with 35 (with Miller also atop that tally at 57).
The Broncos have a chance to make a major dent in the aspirations of one of their fellow finals contenders on Friday night when they take on Parramatta.
(Photo by Bradley Kanaris/Getty Images)
“Payne’s been here when there has been some tough times,” Walters said. “We’re into some greener pastures at the moment and Payne is a big part of that and a big reason why we’re into the greener pastures.
“We look forward to him maintaining that, he’s enjoying his footy, loving living in Brissie and we just need him to stay here, we want him to stay.
“It’s about keeping Payne happy and making sure he’s learning here and developing as a footballer, which I believe that he is. It’s up to Payne’s management and our staff to sort a deal out, which I’m very confident that that will happen.”
Walters said he had no concerns about Haas being booed when Brisbane return to Suncorp Stadium next Friday to host the Rabbitohs.
“We’ve got no real reason to think why Payne wouldn’t want to be here in the next few years.”