Disharmony, discord, disarray – or any other adjectives you can think of. Payne Haas’s dramatic defection to South Sydney for 2027, announced a week ago, sent shockwaves across the rugby league world. The best prop on the planet, one of the best players in the world, a NSW Origin star and NRL grand final winner, suddenly turning his back on the Brisbane Broncos four months after he helped them to an NRL title.
In terms of stunning transfers in the modern era – Sonny Bill Williams to the Roosters, Glenn Lazarus to the Broncos, Cooper Cronk to the Roosters – it was right up there. And in a sport with more leaks than the Titanic, what was perhaps most fascinating was that it happened quickly and quietly with no rumours or inkling by the media or the fans of what was afoot. A stunning coup for former Brisbane coach Wayne Bennett, and indeed a savage blow, bringing one of the Broncos’ biggest names down south.
Since Brisbane landed in England for the World Club Challenge, both the club and coach Michael Maguire have played such a straight bat that even Steve Smith would have been proud. The Broncos have declined to allow Haas to speak to any media while in the UK, and all Maguire would offer was: “You know, I love coaching him, we love having him and that’s what we’re going to be doing – focusing on what we have right now,” he told NRL.com.
“I’m not going to go into ‘why’. I’ve had discussions with Payne and as I said, our focus now is about what we’re doing right now. And that’s all I’m going to say. I’m going to continually say that because that’s what we have in front of us.”
So, about as much clarity as an Eric Cantona press conference. Publicly, the Broncos are purely focused on their 2026 NRL premiership defence. 2027 can wait. And that defence officially started around 10,000 miles away in east Yorkshire with the unlikeliest opponents in Hull Kingston Rovers.
Brisbane haven’t played in a World Club Challenge for nearly two decades, back when current board member Darren Lockyer was captain of the club. But in 2007 even the Australian great was unable to mastermind a victory over St Helens in Bolton. History repeated on Thursday night in Hull.
If this was a practice run to see how theBroncos will cope this season, if they can use Haas’s impending departure to fuel the aim to go back-to-back, then the results were mixed. It took just two minutes for Haas’s front-rower partner Corey Jensen to be forced from the field for a head injury assessment. That, and a poor knock on from Kotoni Staggs, put the Broncos on the backburner early. Four minutes later, Tom Amone dived on a Tyrone May grubber to give Hull KR the lead.
An error from Josiah Karapani gave the Robins more excellent field position. Again, the English side made Brisbane pay – this time Elliot Minchella barging over. On 22 minutes ex-Souths flyer Joe Burgess grabbed their third try. The champion Broncos were getting battered in their first runout for 2026.
Haas might be a generational talent, but Brisbane have never been a one-man team – not even in their 1990s glory years. The twinkling feat of Reece Walsh, the kicking of Adam Reynolds, the grunt of Pat Carrigan, the passing skills of Ben Hunt, the running game of Ezra Mam, the work rate of Jordan Riki – they have weapons abundant. And it was Walsh’s cross-field kick, acrobatically tapped back in by Deine Mariner for Gehamat Shibasaki to score, that started the response. 18-4 behind at half-time, the Broncos were still in the contest, but only just.
Brisbane fought their way back into it in the second half, cutting out their errors, building pressure and making their offloads stick. The tempo raised and Shibasaki was centimetres away from a try. However, on 52 minutes, Mariner’s mistake handed Oliver Gildart the easiest of scores to make it 24-4. Four minutes later Peta Hiku was in. It looked good night Broncos, but it wasn’t. Comeback tries to Carrigan, Mariner, Shibasaski and Staggs came late, and an ominous, unbelievable comeback response appeared inevitable, as nerves at the MKM Stadium were shattered. But ultimately, Hull KR held on.
With an error-strewn performance and a pumped up opposition playing near-perfect footy for 55 minutes, Brisbane were beaten. There will be other challenges to come this season but the questions around Haas, and if his under-pressure team can fully recover from his bombshell decision, won’t be going away any time soon.
