{"id":892495,"date":"2026-09-15T04:58:14","date_gmt":"2026-09-15T04:58:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/892495\/"},"modified":"2026-09-15T04:58:14","modified_gmt":"2026-09-15T04:58:14","slug":"nrl-news-2026-brisbane-broncos-xavier-willison-wins-paul-morgan-medal-as-clubs-best-player-says-he-wants-to-re-sign-as-payne-haas-leaves-for-south-sydney-rabbitohs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/892495\/","title":{"rendered":"NRL news 2026: Brisbane Broncos\u2019 Xavier Willison wins Paul Morgan Medal as club\u2019s best player; says he wants to re-sign as Payne Haas leaves for South Sydney Rabbitohs"},"content":{"rendered":"

Rampaging Brisbane<\/a> talent Xavier Willison \u2013 regarded at Red Hill as the heir to Payne Haas<\/a>\u2032 throne \u2013 pledged his long-term commitment to the Broncos after claiming the club\u2019s top individual honour on Monday night.<\/p>\n

In a media opportunity that was music to the ears of Broncos bosses, Willison \u2013 who is not yet signed beyond 2027 \u2013 suggested it was only a matter of time before a new deal was done after he won Brisbane\u2019s player-of-the-year award.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Xavier Willison.\u00a0NRL Imagery<\/p>\n

The Broncos have been desperate to retain Willison past 2027 after Haas, the best front-rower in the world, inked a three-year deal with the Rabbitohs<\/a> in a move that rocked the club on the eve of the season. <\/p>\n

Intriguingly, last month it was revealed Willison was changing management and poised to bring Ahmad Merhi on board as his agent.<\/p>\n

Merhi manages Haas and was the man behind the champion prop\u2019s move to the Rabbitohs, so his association with 24-year-old Willison raised suggestions the Broncos could lose their next gen superstar, too.<\/p>\n

But speaking on Monday night, the towering forward all but committed to signing a fresh Broncos deal.<\/p>\n

\u201cDefinitely,\u201d Willison said when asked if he wanted to re-sign with Brisbane.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey have given me everything.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy daughter was born in Brisbane, so I would love to stay here and bring my family up here in Brisbane.<\/p>\n

\u201cI love the culture. Between the boys and the staff, we have some of the best connection and the best culture.\u201d<\/p>\n

Willison on Monday became the first player to snag a Paul Morgan Medal other than Haas or potential captain-in-waiting Patrick Carrigan<\/a> since Anthony Milford<\/a> in 2018.<\/p>\n

Haas won an astonishing six club medals, the most of any player in the Broncos\u2019 glittering history.<\/p>\n

In Willison, the Broncos have a gun prop ready to take the keys of their engine room.<\/p>\n

\"Xavier<\/p>\n

Xavier Willison of the Broncos celebrates after scoring a try.\u00a0Getty Images<\/p>\n

\u201cHopefully it\u2019s not too much longer [until a new contract is signed],\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am trying to celebrate tonight, and then we will move forward from there.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am happy to wait. I am changing my management company now and I believe everything happens for a reason.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m hoping my future is here at the Broncos, so I\u2019m not worried too much.\u201d<\/p>\n

Willison also won the Shane Webcke Award on Monday night, as the best forward.<\/p>\n

Carrigan took out the Gary Balkin Award, which is voted by the players.<\/p>\n

The Broncos will be out for redemption in 2027 after going from winning a premiership to finishing in the bottom four in the space of 12 months.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Rampaging Brisbane talent Xavier Willison \u2013 regarded at Red Hill as the heir to Payne Haas\u2032 throne \u2013…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":892496,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[568],"tags":[64,63,761,762,158,85],"class_list":["post-892495","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\/892495","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=892495"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/892495\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/892496"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=892495"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=892495"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=892495"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}