State of Origin fight: Payne Haas sets scene for rematch with savage post-game sledge of Tino Fa’asuamaleaui
Payne Haas landed some choices punches in Origin II but saved his best blow for post-match — and now the scene is set for another fight night.
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Payne Haas isn’t finished with Tino Fa’asuamaleaui yet — setting the scene for a fiery Origin decider.
The Blues heavyweight has landed another blow on the chin of Fa’asuamaleaui, accusing the big Queenslander and his agent of “riding on my coat tails.”
Haas has also rubbished the opinion of Queensland coach Wayne Bennett, who sensationally claimed a newspaper back-page story sparked the fight between the two front-rowers on Wednesday night at ANZ Stadium.
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“I don’t read any paper or anything,’’ Haas said.
“It just happened and I guess everyone got their wish.’’
Setting the record straight, Haas scoffed at any suggestion he had a vendetta or desire to square the ledger with Fa’asuamaleaui after the Maroons prop’s agent Simon Mammino spoke to The Courier Mail prior to Origin II about the under-18s match in 2017 that “Tino” sat him (Haas) on his arse.’”
“Tino went hunting for Haas that night at Homebush and he sat him on his arse,” Mammino said.
“Payne was the big dog at schoolboy level so Tino took him on — that’s the competitor he is.
“Tino first came up against Payne 12 months earlier (in 2016) in a Queensland Schoolboys state carnival at Pizzey Park and Tino went after him.
“The following year, they faced each other in that Queensland-NSW under-18s game at Homebush and Tino was outstanding.
“He wouldn’t back down against Haas and he ended up getting named Queensland’s players’ player.
“Payne was always bigger and better than his opponents at junior level but Tino was never afraid to have a crack.
“He loves a challenge, so he wanted to test himself by calling out Haas.”
But Haas laughed off the assertion of Fa’asuamaleaui’s teenage dominance, by saying simply: “I have actually hardly versed him growing up.
“He is a year younger than me.
“I don’t know where that came from, whether it is his agent trying to ride my coat-tail or whatever.
“It is what it is. They can talk all they want.”
Haas said he was deeply embarrassed by the melee that saw both he and Fa’asuamaleaui sin-binned and then fined $750 by the NRL match review committee on Thursday.
“I just saw red. It was a bit dumb of me to keep carrying on like that. I should have left it as it was,’’ Haas said.
“That is out of character for me to lose my cool. I probably put my teammates in a position where they were a bit vulnerable, especially with me coming off (in the sin bin).
“My grandma — Soledad — will be getting into me. Obviously it is part of footy.
“I will wait for her to see what she says. She gets scared of that kind of stuff. I think the last time I had a fight was in the under-10s.”
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Haas said he would refocus for the decider next Wednesday night and prepare for the biggest game of his career.
“Last year I played there (Suncorp Stadium) and it was the hardest game I played in my life,’’ Haas said.
“I expect that next week from Queensland.
“Their fans are going to be roaring and ready to go. Queensland are going to give it to us and we have to be ready for it.”
Origin brawlers charged for Game Two stoush
Michael Carayannis and Phil Rothfield
State of Origin brawlers Payne Haas and Tino Fa’asuamaleau have been charged by the NRL’s match review committee following their Game Two stoush.
The pair have been hit with grade one contrary conduct charges for the incident which resulted in both players being sent to the sin bin on Wednesday night at ANZ Stadium.
However in good news for both NSW and Queensland camps, they will escape with just $750 fines, leaving them free to resume hostilities in next week’s series decider at Suncorp Stadium.
Blues enforcer Tyson Frizell escaped sanction for a mid-air tackle on Cameron Munster early in the match, that forced the Queensland playmaker out of the game with a concussion.
As expected Nathan Cleary has escaped any punishment for an innocuous shoulder charge.
Earlier, Wayne Bennett sensationally pointed to a newspaper back-page story for igniting the Origin fight between Payne Haas and Tino Fa’asuamaleaui.
The pair once traded barbs in an under-18s Origin game in 2017. Three years on, the two near-120kg giants went toe to toe in what was the first Origin punch-up in seven years. Payne Haas and Tino Fa’asuamaleaui once traded barbs in an under-18s Origin game.
Three years on they threw it down again on rugby league’s biggest stage, sparking an all-in melee and resulting in the pair being sin-binned.
It won’t go down as one of the great Origin stinks but, midway through the second half, the crowd erupted with the biggest cheer of the night when the biff made its return.
Wednesady night’s fight came on the same day Fa’asuamaleaui’s manager generated headlines by declaring in Wednesday’s Courier Mail that his client “sat Haas on his arse” when the pair clashed as 18-year-olds.
Bennett said that story was a factor in the fight.
“I just saw the headline,” Bennett said. “I just saw the headline he and Payne going for each other.
“They are young men — 20 years of age. Headlines throw fuel on the fire. I knew deep down there was going to be a blue between the pair of them. That’s not a headline today (and) I don’t believe it happens.
“They would’ve read the paper. It stirs the emotion. They have to be responsible for their actions. I accept that. It didn’t come out of no where. It was already brewing from this morning.
“I didn’t (speak with Fa’asuamaleaui before the game). I hoped it would blow over. Deep down I knew it wasn’t going to happen.”
A grade one striking charge carries 200 demerit points and could rule the pair out of Origin III if charged.
Haas attempted to play down the biffo when questioned about it after the game.
“I couldn’t even get punches away,” Haas told Channel 9.
“Heaps of boys were holding me back. It was heat of the moment. Tino and I are good mates.
“I just saw red. My grandmother and my mum are probably going to get up me after all this.”
Seven years after Paul Gallen and Nate Myles stood face to face at the same ground which caused the punch to be outlawed from the game, two of the NRL’s biggest players reignited some genuine Origin hostility.
It came just minutes after Gallen cried out for a return of physical combat in his new role as a sideline commentator.
Trent Merrin unsuccessfully tested the automatic sin-bin rules by landing one on the chin of Brent Tate in the first Origin game after that 2013 clash between Gallen and Myles, this fight was the first real indiscretion since that series.
Haas and Fa’asuamaleaui lit a fuse for an instant Origin rivalry. They have less than a week before they square off again in the series decider.
It has also added spice to what will become a heated south-east Queensland derby between Brisbane and the Gold Coast next year when Fa’asuamaleaui joins the Titans.
There was no clear winner on Wednesday night, but round two threatened to kick off on the sideline.
Haas was sent from the field first, his jersey torn across his massive chest from when the pair had come together.
He actually waited for Fa’asuamaleaui to join him in the bin but was well off the field by the time referee Gerard Sutton gave the Maroons’ lock his marching orders.
It came as no surprise that Blues interchange forward Nathan Brown initiated the original melee just minutes into his Origin debut, which eventuated in players coming together.
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Sutton asked video referee Steve Chiddy if he should march any others before settling on the 118kg and 116kg forwards.
The drama came as Immortal Andrew Johns blasted Queensland’s strange tactics which cost the Maroons two tries from scrums.
The Blues scored either side of halftime with a sweeping scrum play where the Maroons were caught short defensively. NSW set up four attackers on three defenders and it was the speed of the likes of Cody Walker and James Tedesco which carved the Maroons defensive line.
The numbering up of the Maroons defenders left Johns flabbergasted having watched Daniel Tupou and James Tedesco score.
“Four attackers and three defenders, it’s like shelling peas,” Johns said on Channel 9 after the Blues’ second near identical try.
“It’s too easy. I know they are worried about the next play having players in position to get set but why wouldn’t they mark up and have four defenders?.
“Surely you get there and change it. You just change it up.”