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But behind the scenes Bennett\u2019s latest masterstroke had been playing out in secret for some time.<\/p>\n
The fact is it all started the moment Keaon Koloamatangi told Bennett prior to Christmas that he would be quitting the Rabbitohs next season to join St George Illawarra on a lucrative five-year contract.<\/p>\n
As disappointed as Bennett would have been to hear Koloamatangi\u2019s decision, he felt no animosity because he knew the young prop was making a call that he believed was in his and his family\u2019s best interests.<\/p>\n
But at the same time Bennett had to do what was in Souths\u2019 best interests.<\/p>\n
And Koloamatangi\u2019s exit automatically freed up the salary cap space for Souths to go in search of another top shelf front-rower – and Bennett isn\u2019t the type who likes to settle for second-best.<\/p>\n
So while all the talk in the media at that point was that Haas was already deep in negotiations to sign a one-year extension at the Broncos for the 2027 NRL season, the Rabbitohs discovered that was far from the truth.<\/p>\n
The reality was that no deal was even close to being put in place, and Haas was well and truly open to hear what the Rabbitohs had to say.<\/p>\n
Payne Haas will leave the Broncos to join the Rabbitohs for the 2027 season.Source: FOX SPORTS<\/p>\n
Bennett of course had a relationship with Haas going back to his time at the Broncos when he debuted Haas as a teenage tearaway back in 2018.<\/p>\n
Bennett would have absolutely loved the fact that stories continued in the media indicating Haas was edging closer to a new deal at Brisbane.<\/p>\n
While it created the image that the Broncos were standing on safe ground, it actually allowed Souths to get under the Broncos\u2019 guard because it took the pressure off Haas and Souths as they worked towards finalising a deal that would shock the rugby league world.<\/p>\n
There is no question this is a massive blow for the Broncos who would be absolutely gutted at losing their powerhouse prop.<\/p>\n
Haas and his teammates fly out to England this week for the World Club Challenge against Super League champs Hull KR next week.<\/p>\n
But between now and then they will have to get their heads together and regroup to make sure this doesn\u2019t have an ongoing impact on the season ahead.<\/p>\n
While for the Rabbitohs, you can\u2019t overplay how big this really is.<\/p>\n
Payne Haas with David Fifita when they both played together at the Brisbane Broncos. Picture: InstagramSource: Supplied Source Known<\/p>\n
You think of rugby league\u2019s biggest signings over the last 50 years and this ranks up with the best of them.<\/p>\n
Greg Inglis moving to Souths.<\/p>\n
Cooper Cronk to the Roosters.<\/p>\n
Sonny Bill Williams return to the Chooks five years after walking out on the Bulldogs.<\/p>\n
Wally Lewis leaving the Broncos for Gold Coast back in the early 1990s was as big as they get after \u2018The King\u2019 was sensationally sacked by Bennett.<\/p>\n
But the one that springs to mind for me is Lazarus\u2019 move from Canberra to the Broncos back in 1992.<\/p>\n
Up until that point the Broncos had not won a comp.<\/p>\n
But Lazarus\u2019 arrival took them to the next level, sparking a decade of dominance that kicked off with back-to-back titles in 1992-93.<\/p>\n
Bennett saw Lazarus\u2019 ability to transform a team first-hand.<\/p>\n
Given Haas is still only 26, for all he has already achieved in the game, the fact is he is only approaching the age now when front rowers traditionally come of age.<\/p>\n
There has already been plenty of comparisons between Haas and Lazarus.<\/p>\n
Now Haas has the potential ignite the next great chapter for Souths.<\/p>\n
Who knows, it could also end up extending Bennett\u2019s own coaching career.<\/p>\n
Bennett is currently signed until the end of 2027.<\/p>\n
There has already been speculation that the now 76-year-old could go an extra season into 2028.<\/p>\n
But with Haas signing until the end of 2029, who knows where this may end.<\/p>\n
One thing\u2019s for certain, the way Bennett helped orchestrate this suggests the supercoach still hasn\u2019t lost his magic touch.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Payne Haas has the potential to do for Wayne Bennett at South Sydney what the great Glenn Lazarus…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":466237,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[568],"tags":[64,63,761,762,158,85],"class_list":["post-466236","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\/466236","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=466236"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/466236\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/466237"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=466236"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=466236"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=466236"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}