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Payne Haas 'seriously' considering move to rugby union

Payne Haas of the Broncos is seen during the round five NRL match between Brisbane Broncos and Wests Tigers at Suncorp Stadium on April 01, 2023 in Brisbane, Australia. (Photo by Bradley Kanaris/Getty Images)

NRL superstar Payne Haas is reportedly ‘seriously’ considering a move back to rugby union, the game he played as a youngster.

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Haas has been a standout player for the Brisbane Broncos over the past few years, but sources close to the 23-year-old have revealed that he is seriously weighing up his options, with the 13-man code worrying that he could be next Joseph Suaalii-style code-switcher.

Haas has a background in rugby union, having played the sport before switching to rugby league as a teenager.

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He was a star for his school rugby team and was even selected for the Australian Schoolboys rugby union team in 2016. Haas cuts an imposing figure on a rugby league field at 194cm and weighing in at 120kg.  He could potentially be deployed as hard running loose forward or giant, defence-busting back in rugby union in the mould of Semi Radradra.

‘Rugby is something Payne would seriously look at. Payne loves rugby league and the Broncos, but he has played rugby as a kid,” Haas’ father Gregor told the Australian Daily Telegraph this weekend.

‘People bag rugby in Australia but they don’t look at the bigger picture. The NRL is very small compared to rugby, which is a world game.’

Rugby Australia is said to be keen to bring Haas back to the code and are likely to be able to outbid anything the Broncos can offer him. A number of cash-rich French clubs are also reportedly interested in signing the talented forward, which means that Rugby Australia’s offer could also be gazumped.

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Haas has been one of the Broncos’ best players over the past few seasons, earning a reputation as one of the most dominant forwards in the NRL. He was named the Broncos’ player of the year in 2020 and has represented both New South Wales and Australia at the highest level.

Despite his success in rugby league, Haas has never lost his love for rugby union and has been keeping a close eye on the sport in recent years. He is said to be excited at the prospect of returning to his roots and playing the sport he grew up loving.

Haas is yet to make a decision on his future, but the prospect of a big-money offer from Rugby Australia or a French club could prove too tempting to turn down.

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Soliloquin 1 hour ago
Competing interests and rotated squads: What the 'player welfare summer' is really telling us

I don’t know the financial story behind the changes that were implemented, but I guess clubs started to lose money, Mourad Boudjellal won it all with Toulon, got tired and wanted to invest in football , the French national team was at its lowest with the QF humiliation in 2015 and the FFR needed to transform the model where no French talent could thrive. Interestingly enough, the JIFF rule came in during the 2009/2010 season, so before the Toulon dynasty, but it was only 40% of the players that to be from trained in French academies. But the crops came a few years later, when they passed it at the current level of 70%.

Again, I’m not a huge fan of under 18 players being scouted and signed. I’d rather have French clubs create sub-academies in French territories like Wallis and Futuna, New Caledonia and other places that are culturally closer to RU and geographically closer to rugby lands. Mauvaka, Moefana, Taofifenua bros, Tolofua bros, Falatea - they all came to mainland after starting their rugby adventure back home.

They’re French, they come from economically struggling areas, and rugby can help locally, instead of lumping foreign talents.

And even though many national teams benefit from their players training and playing in France, there are cases where they could avoid trying to get them in the French national team (Tatafu).

In other cases, I feel less shame when the country doesn’t believe in the player like in Meafou’s case.

And there are players that never consider switching to the French national team like Niniashvili, Merckler or even Capuozzo, who is French and doesn’t really speak Italian.

We’ll see with Jacques Willis 🥲


But hey, it’s nothing new to Australia and NZ with PI!

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