Wayne Bennett says Brisbane had no choice to put up the cash to keep Payne Haas

BRONCOS coach Wayne Bennett says the club had to secure Payne Haas for the long-term future in a bid to ward off rival suitors.

Payne Haas looks on during a Brisbane Broncos training session at Red Hill in Brisbane, Wednesday, May 2, 2018. (AAP Image/Dave Hunt) NO ARCHIVING

BRONCOS coach Wayne Bennett says the club had to secure Payne Haas for the long-term future in a bid to ward off rival suitors.

It was revealed on Wednesday that Brisbane had given the teenage sensation a five-year extension beyond 2019, reportedly worth $3.4 million.

BANK: Haas makes history

PREVIEW: Matty Johns on all the action from Round 19

The deal makes Haas the highest-paid teenager in history, but some critics have questioned whether it is too much money for the 18-year-old given he has played just three NRL games.

But Bennett said Haas actually settled for less money to stay at Brisbane, with other NRL clubs throwing bigger offers his way.

Haas has become the richest teenager in NRL history. AAP Image/Brendan Esposito.

“It was certainly not as high as what other clubs had offered him,” Bennett said.

“He’s a player in great demand and we see him with a long-term future here.

“The club has a long history of players being happy here and wanting to stay here.

“Football’s not just about how much you get paid, it’s about welfare, happiness, who you play with and we’ve always struck a pretty good balance here.”

Haas, who is out for the season with a shoulder injury, also decided to stay in Brisbane because of the presence of supercoach Bennett.

The extension for the giant forward is just the first of many signing announcements the Broncos hope to make over the coming months, with the likes of Tevita Pangai Jr, Corey Oates, Jaydn Su’A and Matt Lodge off-contract.

Nick Campton and Tim Williams celebrate length of the field intercept tries, compare two top shelf Rabbitohs sides and preview all of the Round 19 action.

Subscribe to the League Central podcast on iTunes.

The club will lose forward Korbin Sims to the Dragons next season, but Bennett said it was a decision that had to be made to keep Haas around until 2024.

He said they will now turn their attention to their remaining off-contract players.

“I’d love to have kept Korbin … but you put an offer of six years for someone else, we’re going to have to keep making decisions like that,” he said.

“They’re not ones that we like but the bottom line is we have to make them otherwise we’ll have a club that’s not anywhere near it’s potential.

“We have a great history of not losing our young players so that’s not going to happen hopefully … certainly not on my watch it hasn’t anyway.

“Not to say it won’t happen but we want to keep them. It’s our future.

“We’ve seen what they can produce but we don’t have a future if we don’t have kids here that are coming through the system as well. Recruiting’s done a great job.

“They’re decade (long) players here some of the guys, like Jamayne (Isaako), Kotoni Staggs, David Fifita, Payne Haas, there’s another three or four I could mention.”

Originally published as Wayne Bennett says Brisbane had no choice to put up the cash to keep Payne Haas