{"id":186670,"date":"2025-10-03T04:18:07","date_gmt":"2025-10-03T04:18:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/186670\/"},"modified":"2025-10-03T04:18:07","modified_gmt":"2025-10-03T04:18:07","slug":"broncos-bash-brothers-nearly-joined-storm-the-queenslander","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/186670\/","title":{"rendered":"Broncos bash brothers nearly joined Storm \u2013 The Queenslander"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n Joel Gould |
\n October 3, 2025\n <\/p>\n

\"Broncos<\/p>\n

Broncos duo Pat Carrigan and Payne Haas have been the club\u2019s best forwards of the 2020s.<\/p>\n

Brisbane\u2019s gun forwards Pat Carrigan and Payne Haas are aiming to bring down a Melbourne side in the NRL grand final that they could have been playing for but for quirks of fate.<\/p>\n

Both have been courted by the Storm in the past. Lock forward Carrigan was actually in the Storm academy at Easts Tigers, and prop Haas was set to sign with Melbourne before former Broncos coach Wayne Bennett intervened.<\/p>\n

In his teenage years Haas was about to get on a plane to Melbourne to sign a contract, before Bennett called when he was at the airport and convinced him to stay. Haas has been a Bronco ever since.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy parents loved the Storm. That\u2019s just the way they were,\u2019 Haas said ahead of Sunday\u2019s grand final.<\/p>\n

\"PaynePayne Haas has no fear of the Storm, a club he was once on the brink of joining. (AAP PHOTOS)<\/p>\n

\u201cI was pretty close (to signing), but I am glad I didn\u2019t. I love the Broncos.\u201d<\/p>\n

In 2018 Bennett secured Haas on a six-year extended and upgraded deal \u2013 money well spent.<\/p>\n

The 25-year-old was reminded of the Bennett phone call at the Broncos media day on Monday.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am just grateful that happened or I wouldn\u2019t be on the journey I am now,\u201d Haas said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI am very lucky to be here.\u201d<\/p>\n

Carrigan, 27, was in the Storm\u2019s sights in 2023 after they lost three of their big guns to the Dolphins, but as a teenager he was in the Melbourne system in their Brisbane-based academy, along with Phil Sami, Brodie Croft and Jesse Arthars.<\/p>\n

The Broncos came knocking and he has been at the club ever since, although he has a high regard for the Storm<\/p>\n

\u201cI have a ton of respect for the organisation, and their success at Melbourne speaks for itself,\u201d Carrigan said.<\/p>\n

\u201cMost importantly, I was a kid who has been wearing a Broncos jersey since I was able to walk. I love this place.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cAll I wanted to do was play for this club, and to bring a premiership here would mean the world to me. It\u2019s nice (to be courted) when you come off-contract, but it was a no-brainer for me to stay.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"PatPat Carrigan is ready to do battle with Melbourne and win a premiership for his beloved Broncos. (Joel Carrett\/AAP PHOTOS)<\/p>\n

Carrigan is just grateful he stayed at the Broncos and didn\u2019t lose his good mate Haas to the Storm<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen we were 18 I had four or five clubs keen and he probably had all 16. Everyone tried to sign Payne,\u201d Carrigan said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s always the paths you take, but we have been best of mates for 10 years. \u00a0I am just lucky I am here and playing with him.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe has never made excuses. You see it on and off the field, he has always found a way to be better as a footy player and as a person, and probably his attitude has rubbed off on the group in a lot of ways.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cAs long as he keeps leading from the front in that department, I know a lot of these boys will keep following him.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"PaynePayne Haas and Pat Carrigan have been through the highs and lows at the Broncos. (Darren England\/AAP PHOTOS)<\/p>\n

Haas and Carrigan emerged from the club\u2019s wooden-spoon year of 2020 \u00a0stronger and more determined to take the Broncos back to the top.<\/p>\n

Carrigan just wants to win the grand final with Haas after the heartbreak of them both losing the 2023 decider. Not many players get two cracks in the space of three years.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am just focused on the now and preparing the best I can to take this opportunity,\u201d Carrigan said.<\/p>\n

AAP<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Joel Gould | October 3, 2025 Broncos duo Pat Carrigan and Payne Haas have been the club\u2019s best…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":186671,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[568],"tags":[64,63,761,762,158,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-186670","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nrl","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-national-rugby-league","11":"tag-nationalrugbyleague","12":"tag-nrl","13":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/186670","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=186670"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/186670\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/186671"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=186670"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=186670"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=186670"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}