{"id":958134,"date":"2026-11-09T11:38:14","date_gmt":"2026-11-09T11:38:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/958134\/"},"modified":"2026-11-09T11:38:14","modified_gmt":"2026-11-09T11:38:14","slug":"nrl-2026-payne-haas-explains-why-he-quit-broncos-for-south-sydney","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/958134\/","title":{"rendered":"NRL 2026: Payne Haas explains why he quit Broncos for South Sydney"},"content":{"rendered":"

Payne Haas dominated fitness drills on his first day at South Sydney training but won\u2019t start contact work until January, with the former Broncos prop again forced to shut down theories on why he left the biggest club in Queensland. <\/p>\n

Haas returned to training earlier than expected given he\u2019ll be away in December for his wedding.<\/p>\n

The world\u2019s best forward looms as one of the biggest signings for 2027 and is seen as the man who can lead the Bunnies to their first premiership in 13 years.<\/p>\n

Haas has already won a competition with Brisbane in 2025 which made his decision to sign with the Rabbitohs a few months later one of the most significant stories of the season.<\/p>\n

It led to speculation that he\u2019d fallen out with coach Michael Maguire and that he didn\u2019t appreciate the hectic training loads, but Haas set the record straight on Monday. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt definitely wasn\u2019t the training or the coach,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

\u201cI think the thought of moving scared me and made me uncomfortable, and that\u2019s why I really wanted to do it. <\/p>\n

\u201cLeaving Brisbane, I could have just stayed there for the next five years, signed and been comfortable. <\/p>\n

\u201cI didn\u2019t want to have any regrets. When I had that feeling of moving and that sense of being uncomfortable, I just wanted to do it. I pulled the trigger, I\u2019m glad I did, and I\u2019m here now ready to earn respect. <\/p>\n

\u201cI feel uncomfortable, but I\u2019m ready to be uncomfortable.\u201d<\/p>\n

The external noise followed him everywhere he went in Brisbane, with plenty of people questioning his motives for moving. <\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t really care what people think, to be honest,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cEveryone\u2019s entitled to their own opinions. People close to me and people up there know the real reason. I wanted to be uncomfortable, I needed a change, and I\u2019ve got that now. I\u2019m really excited to be here.\u201d<\/p>\n

Haas will reunite with Wayne Bennett who handed him his NRL debut at the Broncos in 2018. <\/p>\n

The 26-year-old said it was surreal to join the club he supported when he was younger, with Haas carving it up alongside South Sydney\u2019s younger players at training on Monday morning. <\/p>\n

Veteran Cody Walker was also running around which suggests he\u2019s about to sign a new deal with the club for 2027. <\/p>\n

Haas will be part of a terrifying squad featuring Cameron Murray and Latrell Mitchell, with the key forward\u2019s brothers also at the club which has made the move easier. <\/p>\n

But he won\u2019t be running any contact drills with his new teammates until January with Haas nursing two injured fingers that plagued him all season and ruled him out of the World Cup.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think people understood how big it was,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m out for four months, so I can\u2019t do contact until January, so I\u2019m just running around. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s called a boutonniere. It\u2019s when your tendons rip off from the top and your fingers start going like that (bending). <\/p>\n

\u201cI was playing with that since round one, and I just wanted to keep going for the boys because it was unlikely I\u2019d play with my best mates again week in, week out. So I really wanted to do that.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a sacrifice I made, sacrificing playing in the World Cup, because I wanted to finish off the year with my best mates at the Broncos.\u201d<\/p>\n

Originally published as \u2018Ready to be uncomfortable\u2019: Payne Haas begins Rabbitohs training and sets the record straight on Broncos exit as injury delays contact work<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Payne Haas dominated fitness drills on his first day at South Sydney training but won\u2019t start contact work…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":958135,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[568],"tags":[409326,525434,525432,525433,295116,4891,89838,525416,391468,431933,376825,457869,525428,525423,411604,525425,525419,64,63,651,5366,241658,525420,43475,83158,153444,13149,120167,213575,404636,5328,383904,455088,525437,495027,390366,525427,12979,525438,175563,525430,6407,13052,13053,446818,761,762,158,6622,13390,1861,46677,1654,525440,163920,53725,14867,525424,3203,85,384548,420314,418662,525431,525422,23275,61418,378767,382205,392780,525429,525421,525439,525426,378658,525436,377421,377431,378780,378400,392138,420140,419654,377466,501316,461720,72503,378969,475724,525418,1112,1542,525435,142414,525417,1651,14850,100843,482080,525441],"class_list":["post-958134","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nrl","tag-s-best","tag-s-brothers","tag-s-younger-players","tag-13-years-haas","tag-295116","tag-4891","tag-89838","tag-a-boutonniere","tag-a-change","tag-a-competition","tag-a-few-months","tag-a-new-deal","tag-a-sacrifice","tag-a-terrifying-squad","tag-all-season","tag-any-contact-drills","tag-any-regrets","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-brisbane","tag-broncos","tag-broncos-exit","tag-cameron-murray-and-latrell-mitchell","tag-coach-michael-maguire","tag-contact","tag-contact-work","tag-contracts","tag-december","tag-fitness-drills","tag-four-months","tag-haas","tag-his-decision","tag-his-first-day","tag-his-motives","tag-his-new-teammates","tag-his-nrl-debut","tag-his-wedding-the-world","tag-injuries","tag-injury-delays","tag-january","tag-later-one","tag-michael-maguire","tag-monday","tag-morning","tag-my-best-mates","tag-national-rugby-league","tag-nationalrugbyleague","tag-nrl","tag-part","tag-payne-haas","tag-people","tag-plenty","tag-rabbitohs","tag-rabbitohs-training","tag-respect","tag-round-one","tag-south-sydney","tag-south-sydney-training","tag-speculation","tag-sports","tag-that-feeling","tag-that-sense","tag-the-26-year-old","tag-the-biggest-club","tag-the-biggest-signings","tag-the-boys","tag-the-broncos","tag-the-bunnies","tag-the-club","tag-the-coach","tag-the-external-noise","tag-the-former-broncos-prop","tag-the-hectic-training-loads","tag-the-key-forward","tag-the-man","tag-the-most-significant-stories","tag-the-move","tag-the-next-five-years","tag-the-rabbitohs","tag-the-real-reason","tag-the-record","tag-the-season-it","tag-the-thought","tag-the-top","tag-the-training","tag-the-trigger","tag-the-world-cup","tag-the-year","tag-their-first-premiership","tag-their-own-opinions","tag-theories","tag-training","tag-two-injured-fingers","tag-uncomfortable","tag-veteran-cody-walker","tag-wayne-bennett","tag-week","tag-younger","tag-your-fingers","tag-your-tendons"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/958134","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=958134"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/958134\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/958135"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=958134"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=958134"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=958134"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}