NRL 2025: Broncos star Payne Haas steps up to care for his two brothers
With their mother in prison and father charged with drug trafficking, Payne Haas’ young brothers faced an uncertain future. But the Bronco has proven the one thing larger than his frame, is his heart.
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Payne Haas has revealed how the Broncos saved him in his darkest hour as the superstar rugby league prop prepares to celebrate the birth of his first son.
In the most raw and candid interview of his chequered career, Haas has opened up on a drama-charged year that will end with a silver lining – a Christmas baby.
Over the past 12 months, Haas, the highest-paid forward in Broncos history on a $1 million a season, has been rocked by on and off-field turbulence.
His mother Joan is in a Brisbane women’s prison awaiting sentencing over a fatal car crash, while in May, his father Gregor was charged overseas with allegedly trafficking 5kg of crystal methamphetamine from Mexico into Indonesia.
With Joan and Gregor unable to care for their 10 children, Haas stepped up, becoming a legal guardian for his younger brothers Hans, 14, and Geejay, 12, and moving his siblings from the Gold Coast to live with him in Brisbane.
Haas is already a doting dad to three-year-old daughter Lalita and now he and fiancee Lani are due to welcome their second child next month, a baby boy.
“I’m going to be a dad again, I’m ready for more chaos,” Haas said with a laugh.
“I love having a daughter so it’s going to be a different experience having a son.
“He is due around December 14, but he might come sooner because he is already pretty big.
“I’m so soft with my daughter, I’m hopeless. My partner Lani gets so angry at me. I spoil my daughter way too much. I let her get away with everything.
“She is three now, it’s gone quick. Life moves fast when you are having kids.”
Life also moves fast when you are battling life stresses and few NRL stars have been forced to navigate the tears and turbulence Haas has encountered in recent years.
Last year, Haas’ dad began making regular trips overseas and was spending weeks away, prompting the Broncos forward to take custody of his two younger brothers.
Aside from his playing commitments for the Broncos and the NSW Origin team, Haas is more like father than older brother, making lunches, taking his siblings to school and paying for their education and daily needs.
Financially, Haas, whose three-year Broncos deal is worth $3.5 million, accepts he is no longer on Struggle Street, but he is now motivated to give his daughter, impending son and brothers a better life.
“I don’t want them to see the things that I saw as a kid and be around the certain things I was around,” Haas said.
“I do get sad for my brothers. It’s been hard on them to deal with all this, but I’m just blessed that Lani is so understanding and has had my back through all of this.
“I’m lucky that I’m in a good spot now where I can actually help them, put them on the right path and give them a headstart in life.
“To be honest, that’s my main goal now.
“I love being a father and being around my family. I don’t really do much outside of footy these days.
“Some people might think it’s boring, but with what I’ve had to take on, the most important job in my life now is being a good person and mentor for them and then footy comes after that.
“Once upon a time, I wasn’t a good role model to be honest. But you grow up in life and all I care about now is raising good kids with manners and good morals who treat people well.”
Haas, who turns 25 on December 2, now speaks with a maturity he admits he lacked in his embryonic years at the Broncos.
There were flashpoints in his NRL career when he could have easily found himself in jail, or at the very least sacked by the Broncos.
Three years ago, Haas clashed with police in an alcohol-fuelled incident at Tweed Heads that saw him fined $50,000 and suspended for three matches by the NRL.
It wasn’t his first drama. In 2019, the Broncos enforcer was banned for four games by the NRL and fined $10,000 for failing to comply with an integrity-unit probe over an off-field family matter.
Haas isn’t proud of his rap sheet, but says it’s why the birth of his first child, which imposed the responsibility of parenthood, was a seminal moment in his life.
Asked if the Broncos saved him from going off the rails, Haas says: “They did for sure.
“To be honest, they’ve given me a lot of chances. The Broncos have been patient and helped me become a better person.”
The 118kg front-rower wonders where he would be without the support of club legend Kevin Walters, who was terminated as Broncos coach last month.
“’Kev’ is not around anymore, but that’s why I’ve got lots of love and respect for Kev,” he said.
“He stuck by me through some times where I was getting in trouble a lot and he always believed in me.
“He would say, ‘Payno, I know there’s a good person in there’, but there were decisions I was making at a certain time that weren’t the right decisions, they were stupid decisions really.
“I couldn’t even really worry about the Broncos sacking me because if they did, then it would have been my own wrongdoing.
“Had they sacked me, I would have copped it on the chin because it was my fault, I was doing the wrong thing by them.
“But Kev always backed me as a person and he was prepared to back my character as a person off the field.
“The last few years, I’ve really matured into the type of person that I want to be, and that’s all credit to Kev and everyone at the Broncos who actually cared about me as a person and wanted the best for me.
“They stuck by me and showed faith in some really tough times, so I will always have respect and love for the Broncos.
“It’s a very special club like that.”
Haas learned of his father’s arrest just hours before Brisbane’s premiership game against Manly in May.
Walters gave Haas the option of pulling out, but he refused to withdraw and played a starring role in Brisbane’s 13-12 win.
It underlines Haas’ mental fortitude, a spirit shaped by the tragic death of his “best mate”, quadriplegic brother Chace, who passed away in 2020 due to respiratory failure.
Asked how he has coped from what could be described as a year from hell, Haas said: “I won’t lie. It’s been a hard year.
“I guess I’m used to the drama.
“With all the stuff that came out (of his dad’s arrest) in Magic Round, just before I ran out on the field last year, it was a bit draining to be honest.
“This off-season has been the best thing for me. I just got away from a lot of things. I haven’t been on my phone that much and I’ve had a good support network like my partner, who has been my safety net to fall back on when things get hard.
“But my mentality is there are always people in the world going through worse things than I am.
“That gives me a different perspective on things.”
Haas’ younger brothers have taken up football with the Brisbane Tigers and hopes they end up playing for the Broncos. For now, he wants them to have love and stability.
“I take pride in that,” he says of his fatherly role for Geejay and Hans.
“I’m their legal guardian now. It’s not easy for them not having their parents around, so me and Lani are doing our best to fill that void.
“I love watching them train and play footy. There’s another two good front-rowers coming through … and hopefully my son plays one day as well.
“It’s on me to give them the best guidance possible and every opportunity to make it in life.
“If they end up as good people, then I’ve done my job and I’ll be proud of it.”
Originally published as NRL 2025: Broncos star Payne Haas steps up to care for his two brothers
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