{"id":381604,"date":"2025-12-31T01:55:10","date_gmt":"2025-12-31T01:55:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/381604\/"},"modified":"2025-12-31T01:55:10","modified_gmt":"2025-12-31T01:55:10","slug":"haas-spotted-in-nrl-rivals-city-but-could-it-mean-anything-nrl-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/381604\/","title":{"rendered":"Haas spotted in NRL rival’s city, but could it mean anything? – NRL News"},"content":{"rendered":"

Off-contract Brisbane Broncos<\/a> star Payne Haas<\/a> has reportedly been spotted in Newcastle.<\/p>\n

While it’s hardly a surprise given he was born in the region, Haas is still yet to be contracted beyond the end of 2026 by the Broncos, despite plenty of claims he would be.<\/p>\n

Haas and his management have made it abundantly clear that, should he remain in the NRL<\/a>, his preference is to remain with the Broncos, but every day he isn’t signed will throw fuel on the fire that he is considering his options.<\/p>\n

Wide World of Sports’ The Mole claims he was spotted in Newcastle this week with his partner.<\/p>\n

Haas, who has been able to talk to rival clubs since November 1, was at one point approached by Rugby 360 with talk of as much as $3 million per season on the table.<\/p>\n

That competition has fallen over with a potential start date pushed back to 2028. That was a move that also stung Parramatta Eels<\/a> winger Zac Lomax<\/a>, who is now on the lookout for a deal in the Super Rugby competition after being granted a release by the blue and gold from the remainder of his contract just 12 months after joining.<\/p>\n

There is no question that, if money becomes an issue in Haas’ future, other clubs will have more wiggle room than the Broncos to make a play for him.<\/p>\n

Haas, who previously made it clear playing for premierships was his number one goal, has now lifted the Provan-Summons Trophy with the Broncos after their famous run through the finals in 2025.<\/p>\n

Whether that shifts Haas’ priorities or not remains to be seen, but it has been mentioned that he is keen to look after his family.<\/p>\n

The Knights may be one of the clubs that can’t compete given their big-money deals for Kalyn Ponga<\/a> and Dylan Brown<\/a>, however, the idea of Ponga leaving has been floated relentlessly in recent seasons.<\/p>\n

That would in itself free up enough money for the Knights to go after Haas, and it’s clear based on their 2025 wooden spoon performance that they need a big name to lead the forwards.<\/p>\n

The departure of Leo Thompson<\/a> to the Canterbury Bulldogs<\/a> creates another gap in the pack, although his form throughout the campaign just gone was poor.<\/p>\n

The Knights wouldn’t be the only club to chase Haas if he became available.<\/p>\n

The South Sydney Rabbitohs<\/a>, who Zero Tackle have heard some very loose chatter about in a link to Haas, have just lost Keaon Koloamatangi<\/a>. Their salary cap is believed to be stretched, but the money freed up from the departure of their current forward leader to the St George Illawarra Dragons<\/a> could be enough to make a play.<\/p>\n

The Parramatta Eels<\/a>, too, have money up their sleeve and were in the mix for Koloamatangi, while the Perth Bears<\/a> are going to be a threat for every player who comes off contract between now and when they enter the competition, with just seven signings to their name to date.<\/p>\n

Ultimately, it’s difficult to see Haas leaving Brisbane, but stranger things have happened.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Off-contract Brisbane Broncos star Payne Haas has reportedly been spotted in Newcastle. While it’s hardly a surprise given…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":381605,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[568],"tags":[64,63,761,762,158,85],"class_list":["post-381604","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\/381604","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=381604"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/381604\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/381605"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=381604"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=381604"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=381604"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}