Brisbane Broncos star Payne Haas is reportedly set to reject a multi-million dollar offer from rebel rugby union competition R360 to stay in the NRL – with the league now in danger of collapsing altogether. 

Haas is one of several NRL stars who has been approached to join the league, which intends to start play in 2026 and had been talked up as an existential threat to both codes.

That led NRL supremo Peter V’landys to warn any player who joined the competition would be facing a 10-year ban from elite Australian rugby league – and it appears to have had a telling influence on Haas.

Reports from Code Sports in Australia have suggested that Haas is now giving serious consideration about his offer of $3million from R360, mindful of the fact he could be hit with a ban that would end his chances of ever returning to the NRL.

But perhaps more importantly, there are suggestions growing that insiders at R360 have ‘genuine reservations’ about whether there is the financial prowess in place to even get the competition up and running at all.

The report from Code says: “R360’s uncertainty is another factor, prompting Haas to inform a fellow representative player, one of the NRL’s biggest names, that he is leaning towards staying at the Broncos.”

That is a major development, not least because a number of other NRL players including Ryan Papenhuyzen and Zac Lomax have been approached to join the league.

However, that duo have ruled out a sojourn in American rugby union as a holding move until R360 gets underway in late 2026, leading to more increased fears about the long-term prospects of the competition.

But Haas’ decision is influenced by multiple factors, including his loyalty to the Broncos – who are desperate to retain the prop long-term. He is also keen to represent Samoa at next year’s World Cup, which would delay any possible code switch until 2027 at the earliest.

R360 had been gearing up to announce major recruits in the coming weeks, potentially before the end of the year. But they now look to be in real limbo as a competition altogether if reports from Down Under are to be believed.