Broncos enforcer Payne Haas is looking to put aside a disrupted pre-season preparation after being named to start in Michael Maguire’s new-look Brisbane forward pack to face the Roosters.
As one of the competition’s elite forwards, Haas was one of Brisbane’s best when he was on the field last year, but missed much of the season with various injuries, including undergoing knee surgery in March and suffering a Lisfranc injury late in the season.
Fans feared the worst when Haas went under the knife again in January minor ankle surgery and again after coming off early in his side’s Pre-Season Challenge win over the Bulldogs, but the representative prop dismissed concerns saying he hoped his “minor clean-out of the ankle” would help keep him fresh for the season ahead.
“It’s good for me to get it (now), so during the year so I have no more hiccups, to be honest,” Haas told NRL.com.
“It a big goal of mine to stay injury free all year; I just want to play as much footy as I can this year for the boys and just be out there.
“I am feeling pretty fit, obviously when I had that injury, I was a bit off it, but … it's pretty easy to reset and just go again … look after my body now and get fresher.”
Named a prop for the encounter at Allianz Stadium to kick off the second week of Round 1, Haas will be partnered by Pat Carrigan in the front row, with Kobe Hetherington getting his chance to start at lock.
Other changes in the forward pack see Cory Paix return to the fold as starting hooker which moves Billy Walters to the bench in more of a utility role, while Jack Gosiewski, who missed the back end of last season with a broken arm, starts in the second row ahead of Brendan Piakura, who will come from the bench.
As widely reported, Ben Hunt will partner Adam Reynolds in the halves, while in the outside backs, an ongoing quad compliant for Kotoni Staggs has seen the remarkable return to a Broncos jersey of Gehamat Shibasaki, who originally re-joined the club on a train-and-replace deal before being upgraded to a development contract. On Thursday night, we will partner with Deine Mariner as Brisbane’s centres.
A keen observer from the sidelines during his injury-forced absences, Haas was looking to the positives and said he was happy to see his fellow forward pack members step up on the field and on the training paddock, with many taking the opportunity to fill in with different roles.
“It's not good that I'm injured, but some boys like Xavier (Willison) are getting more reps at training because I'm out, so the more reps they can get at training and the more they know their role,” Haas said.
“It's going to be easier for me and Patty and take the workload off us … I think it's been a blessing to be honest for a lot of the boys and the team as a whole.
“There’s been a lot of talk outside about positions, but inside the squad, it's just that you're doing your job for the boys, for the team and whatever Madge wants you to play, you play and you just do it to the best of your ability and know your role.
“The competition for spots has been good, I think healthy competition's really good, the boys are pushing each other along, everyone's pushing each other, especially in the forwards.
“The dressing room has been good and on the field as well, it's getting pretty intense.
“You need to start ticking now and start finetuning everything as well.”
Haas said while the methods and expectations of Maguire were driving high standards, the premiership-winning coach also had a softer side.
“When he's on the field training, he's real serious and that's it, but when he's off it, he honestly really cares about us, our families, how we're going, he loves family wants our family to be around,” Haas said.
“He’s big on connection as well, being a highly connected team makes it easier doing harder things, so that and us being connected as a group and I feel like we are.
“We can go to another level 100% and obviously last year was a learning curve for us and I think that's just made us push harder to be honest.
“We don't want that same stuff to happen again.
“I want to get back to a grand final because we just missed in 2023, but the past is the past and you have just got to be present now and just continue to work hard and see what happens.
“We had heaps of injuries, but it's the next man up mentality. Obviously, we failed to do that last year which hurts, but like I said it's a learning curve, you take lots of lessons out of it and just move forward.”
NRL.com
