Corey Parker urges Broncos to sever ties with Payne Haas immediately
Corey Parker has launched an extraordinary attack on Payne Haas and urged Brisbane powerbrokers to immediately grant his release request.
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Broncos legend Corey Parker has urged the club to sever ties with Payne Haas immediately amid revelations the disgruntled star has told Brisbane he doesn’t want to leave Red Hill.
The Broncos rejected a request from Haas to be immediately released from the remainder of his contract after negotiations over a $3.2 million extension broke down on Wednesday.
The bombshell request from Haas has raised questions about whether the NSW Origin star’s future at Red Hill – where he is contracted until 2024 – is tenable.
Parker, the second-most capped Bronco of all-time with 347 NRL appearances, launched an extraordinary attack on Haas and urged Brisbane powerbrokers to immediately grant his request.
However the Broncos haven’t lost hope of salvaging relations with their best player over the past three years after Haas held crisis talks with coach Kevin Walters on Thursday.
While Haas, 22, believes he is undervalued on his current contract – worth $748,000 this season – he does not necessarily want to leave the improving Broncos and his dispute is more about money than being unhappy at Red Hill.
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The Broncos will not agree to the current contract proposal from Haas’ management, which would see him pocket $1 million in each of the following two seasons before climbing to an eye-watering $1.2 million in 2025.
However they are willing to enter the negotiating table again in the hope of striking a new arrangement which would see Haas’ salary bumped up – just not to the exorbitant price he is asking.
Despite the club’s pragmatic approach, Parker said the Broncos should axe Haas and move on to preserve the culture at Red Hill.
“Brisbane should let him go immediately,” he said.
“He has thrown his toys out of the cot because he hasn’t got what he wanted. The internal rift this will cause in the dressing room will be significant.
“After everything the Broncos have done for him, giving him upgrades when he was involved in numerous off-field incidents, I find his stance unbelievable.
“There is no question about his playing ability, but the Broncos have always been bigger than one man. So let him go. Hold your integrity and let him go and chase the money.
“The Broncos are playing with fire if they hold onto him. He has shown his true colours. He is not a team player.
“The Broncos should not compromise their integrity in this situation.”
Haas will attempt to put the saga behind him by turning out at Suncorp Stadium in Friday night’s M1 derby against the Gold Coast Titans, where he could receive a frosty reception from jaded Broncos’ fans.
Haas has had a turbulent career since debuting for the Broncos in 2018.
He has received three separate suspensions from the NRL for off-field incidents but has become Brisbane’s best player, winning the club’s Paul Morgan Medal for the past three years.
It’s that rise that has prompted Haas to request more money from the Broncos, a demand which was rejected.
“They signed him to a six-year deal as an 18-year-old coming off a shoulder reconstruction. In that time, he got another pay rise out of goodwill. How much more money does he want?” Parker said.
“They supported him through his off-field dramas when he could have easily been sacked.
“There’s been murmurs and rumblings for months about Payne Haas leaving the club. If he stays, it will cause a rift within the club. He has asked to leave the joint.
“When you are running out on the field and you look to your left and see Payne Haas, you could think he doesn’t want to be here anyway.
“The Broncos have been through some hard times and now just as they are turning the corner, Haas drops this bombshell.
“In the history of our club, no one player has ever been bigger than the Broncos. I’d release him. Why would the Broncos persist with a guy who doesn’t want to be there?”
MONEY-HUNGRY HAAS HOLDS BRONCOS TO RANSOM
Brent Read
If Payne Haas wants out of Brisbane, the Broncos should let him go. Cut him loose at the end of the season and move on.
Thanks Payne, but even you are not worth the trouble.
Sound familiar? That’s because I wrote it six weeks ago and nothing has changed.
The Broncos are in the midst of a revival. Finals football is remarkably on the horizon for a club that has struggled in recent years.
Then this. Arguably their best player sends an email via his manager to the club asking for a release because his pay demands have not been met.
It’s ugly stuff. The sort of money-grabbing headline that gives footballers and their agents a bad name. Haas is effectively holding the club to ransom — give me a fat new deal or show me the exit door.
The figures are mind-boggling, particularly for a front rower who has occasionally found himself in hot water in recent years. Upwards of $1 million for the next three seasons. The sort of six-figure salary that is usually reserved for players in the spine.
It’s all the more disturbing when you consider that Haas has developed a nasty habit of finding himself at the centre of integrity unit investigations.
He is a generational talent but at some point you have to determine whether Haas is worth the trouble. NSW coach Brad Fittler will no doubt be asking himself the same question over the weekend.
Haas would have walked into the Blues side for the opening game of the State of Origin series but Fittler has a history of overlooking players who are caught in contract negotiations.
Haas has taken it up a notch on that front. He wants to be the highest paid player at the Broncos even though he isn’t the most valuable. That much has become clear this season.
Halfback Adam Reynolds has transformed the Broncos as a playmaker and captain. Haas is a crucial piece of the puzzle but whispers about his future have circulated for months, stemming from a fallout with his former management and his decision to join a new agent.
He is knee-deep in a NSW Supreme Court fight against his former agent. Meanwhile, he is fighting with the Broncos on the home front.
For all the trouble, rival clubs would queue up for Haas. Some may even give him the sort of mouth-watering dollars he is demanding.
There have been whispers for weeks that Canterbury head of football Phil Gould has been talking to Haas’ management. Gould, it must be said, has refuted those meetings were about Haas and has suggested his purported pay demands are too high.
He has long been linked with the Sydney Roosters but they don’t have the salary cap space to fit him in. Then again, if Roosters supremo Nick Politis wants Haas, he will make it happen.
There has even been talk of French rugby union, where his friend and mentor Sonny Bill Williams ended up when he walked out on Canterbury.
Haas will have no trouble finding a new home. As good as he is, the Broncos would do well to consider letting go.
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