{"id":381197,"date":"2025-12-30T21:29:11","date_gmt":"2025-12-30T21:29:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/381197\/"},"modified":"2025-12-30T21:29:11","modified_gmt":"2025-12-30T21:29:11","slug":"nrl-news-2025-the-mole-exclusive-francis-molo-contract-payne-haas-spotted-in-newcastle","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/381197\/","title":{"rendered":"NRL news 2025 | The Mole exclusive; Francis Molo contract; Payne Haas spotted in Newcastle"},"content":{"rendered":"

The best prop forward in the world, Payne Haas<\/a>, has been spotted by my spies with his partner in Newcastle this week.<\/p>\n

With the collapse of R360 and Haas still not contracted to the Broncos beyond the end of 2026, surely the Knights<\/a> aren’t planning the greatest ambush in league history?<\/p>\n

Yes, he does hail from Newcastle and still has relatives in the area … that could be a simple explanation.<\/p>\n

READ MORE: Aussie legend Hayden takes aim at Test batting coach<\/a><\/p>\n

READ MORE: Giddey’s injury blow as All-Star hopes hang in the balance<\/a><\/p>\n

READ MORE: Boxing champ pulled from crash that kills two close friends<\/a><\/p>\n

But the big man can talk to rival clubs due to his contract having only a season to run and the Knights have the smartest recruitment man in the game in Peter O’Sullivan who knows how to land a big fish.<\/p>\n

Remember where you read it first.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Payne Haas shares an embrace with Ben Hunt and Corey Jensen. \u00a0NRL Photos<\/p>\n

TEST PROP TO ATTRACT RIVAL INTEREST<\/p>\n

Samoan Test prop Francis Molo<\/a> has become one of the most sought-after forwards on the open market following Keaon Koloamatangi’s move to the Dragons<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Souths and Parramatta, the two clubs who missed out on Koloamatangi, are both expected to bid for Molo, who was a consistent performer for the Dolphins<\/a> last season.<\/p>\n

A former Queensland State of Origin prop, Molo has a hard edge and at 31, is an experienced campaigner at NRL level.<\/p>\n

He is contracted to the Dolphins for 2026 but can talk to rival clubs now.<\/p>\n

“Frank is happy at Redcliffe and they want to keep him,” Molo’s manager Wayde Rushton told Wide World of Sports.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Francis Molo. \u00a0Getty<\/p>\n

“But at the same time he has to look after himself and his family and there is definitely a demand for tough middle men at the moment in the NRL.<\/p>\n

“He was great for Samoa late in the year and that has boosted his value.”<\/p>\n

MANLY UNHAPPY AS KNIGHTS RECRUIT TEEN<\/p>\n

The Knights have snapped up one of Manly’s best up-and-coming outside backs for next season.<\/p>\n

Brendan Couzens, originally from Newcastle territory at Wyong, was named SG Ball best and fairest winner at the Sea Eagles this year.<\/p>\n

Equally at home at centre of wing, the youngster will play in the Flegg Cup in 2026.<\/p>\n

The Sea Eagles aren’t happy at losing such a talented teenager – stand by for a retaliatory raid in coming weeks.<\/p>\n

RABBITOHS RAID ROOSTERS<\/p>\n

League’s oldest rivals – the Rabbitohs and Roosters – continue to pick each others pockets on the recruitment front.<\/p>\n

And Souths appear to have got themselves a good one in giant Roosters prop Phillip Lavakeiaho.<\/p>\n

A student at renowned sporting nursery Matraville Sports High School, Lavakeiaho helped steer the Roosters to victory in the SG Ball competition this year, before moving up to the NSW Cup to play against grown men.<\/p>\n

With Souths losing both Keaon Koloamatangi and Davvy Moale, the 18-year-old could be the answer to the club’s prayers for a forward leader in years to come.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The best prop forward in the world, Payne Haas, has been spotted by my spies with his partner…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":381198,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[568],"tags":[64,63,761,762,158,85],"class_list":["post-381197","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nrl","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-national-rugby-league","tag-nationalrugbyleague","tag-nrl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/381197","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=381197"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/381197\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/381198"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=381197"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=381197"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=381197"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}