On the concourse and upper decks of Suncorp Stadium, rugby league’s most famous coliseum, middle-aged men congregate for a weekend which is fast becoming an excuse for a pseudo annual buck’s party. Footy fans are raucous and high on life, dressed in their favourite team’s colours or some outlandish costume.
Under the late autumn sun and clear nights, they get to watch all the stars of the NRL in one place on one weekend thanks to Magic Round. The noise doesn’t stop for three straight days.
In the bowels of the stadium, where a labyrinth of cold, concrete tunnels are guarded by overzealous security guards, it’s the end of the first night of matches. One of the sport’s best players sits alone in a small room having rushed from the field at full-time, and excused himself from teammates, all still drunk on the euphoria of a last-gasp win. While they get slaps on the back from coaches, officials and a few corporate hangers-on, he broods in silence.
On this night, the whole of Australia has learned what Payne Haas has known for days – his father, Gregor, is potentially facing the death penalty for allegedly smuggling drugs into Indonesia.
“The news broke just as I jumped on the bus to go to Suncorp,” Haas says. “I knew I had a job to do for the boys, and we needed a win.”
Playing for the boys? Needing a win? Excuse me?
Payne Lucky Haas – named because his mother was pregnant with him when older brother, Chace, was left a quadriplegic as a five-month-old in a serious car accident – is not the type of footballer you think needs a hug. The bearded behemoth stands at 194cm and weighs 117kg. But sometimes, you just want to throw your arms around him and make sure he’s OK.
He’s an imposing man with a peculiarly soft voice several bars higher than you assume. He barrels into, and crashes through, rugby league players for a living. Without a hint of exaggeration, his manager, Ahmad Merhi, says, “We’re witnessing a once-in-a-generation player”.
But ever since Wayne Bennett debuted him in the NRL as an 18-year-old, Haas’ career has played out against a backdrop of unimaginable family turmoil.
Both his parents are now in custody. His mother, Uiatu “Joan” Taufua, is accused of fleeing a two-vehicle crash in the Gold Coast hinterland in 2022 under the influence of alcohol which left three people – Susan Zimmer, 70, her partner Chris Fawcett, 79, and Zimmer’s daughter Steffanie, 35 – dead. Her case is in limbo as she awaits psychiatric testing, and she is yet to enter a formal plea.
Payne’s father, Gregor Johann Haas, 46, was arrested last month for allegedly smuggling five kilograms of methamphetamines hidden in ceramic tiles into Indonesia. Chace, Payne’s north star according to his inner circle, died four years ago at the age of 21.
Still, Haas keeps playing.
“If something is going on off the field, you can almost rely on him to be even better on the field,” says an official from Haas’ NRL club, the Brisbane Broncos.
They’re right.
Just minutes before Haas’s quiet retreat from the Magic Round pandemonium, he had made a 76th-minute charge which skittled Manly’s man mountain Taniela Paseka. When finally tackled, his team was in prime position for Jock Madden to slot the winning field goal in the dying moments of the game. He didn’t show emotion at full-time, just a clean pair of heels to escape the public glare – one of the rare times he had skipped the chance to sit on the ground with teammate Pat Carrigan and soak in the atmosphere, a post-game ritual between the great friends.
So, how does Haas keep fronting up when his family’s life is in disarray?
“Only from a place of hardship can growth become,” says Haas’ great friend and cross-code superstar Sonny Bill Williams. “I know where I came from, and I wouldn’t have had that mental fortitude unless I walked that path. He’s walked it. That’s just strengthened him in so many ways. Simply, no one has walked his path before.”
And nor should they have to.
This week, having entered NSW State of Origin camp, Haas calmly answered questions for the first time since his father’s arrest. NRL clubs will usually hide players embroiled in even the most minor of incidents from the media for months. Haas agreed to speak days out from the biggest match of the year so far. He said he’d been using rugby league as an “escape”, and without batting an eyelid, insisted, “I’ve been through worse things in my life”.
His life, at just 24, now sees him with custody of his two school-aged brothers, Hans and Geejay, while also looking after his own daughter, Lalita. When the Broncos players have left their Red Hill base after a training session, Hans and Geejay are often found on the field kicking a ball. Sometimes, they duck onto the Broncos’ basketball court for a bit of one-on-one.
“He’s always been a family man, but he’s just extended his home,” Merhi says of Haas. “He’s got exceptional resilience. It comes from a commitment to his Muslim faith first of all, and the unwavering support of his partner, Leilani. Those two things create a really powerful synergy that enables Payne to navigate the challenges that he faces with strength and grace.”
But even with all the upheaval in his own family, Haas has made it his mission to quietly mentor others outside his immediate blood.
When former Broncos player TC Robati, was accused of sexual assault (Robati denies he assaulted a woman and will face trial later this year), Haas volunteered to play basketball with him at a suburban court to take his mind off the charges. Some of the local kids started joining in. Even when Robati wasn’t there, Haas continued to play with them. He has also engaged in other charity work, which the Broncos have encouraged.
Yet there was a time when the Broncos thought they’d lost Haas. He put in a release request midway through the 2022 season, and when he ran out onto Suncorp Stadium to play that week, was booed by his own fans. Despite all the off-field dramas involving his family and himself (Haas was also fined $50,000 by the NRL and suspended for three matches for verbally abusing police officers in 2021. He personally visited them to apologise for his mistake and volunteered to help with troubled youth), the Broncos privately maintain Haas has never been more rattled than after that response from the Suncorp Stadium crowd. He later signed an extension at Brisbane until the end of 2026, and Merhi says now: “I see it as his home for life”.
“He’s a very switched-on individual,” Merhi says. “He knows exactly his surroundings. He’s got great comprehension and he has a great memory bank. You can’t judge a book by its cover, and you need to wait until you sit down and chat to him [to understand him].”
Says Williams: “The one thing I can say: for a big man he’s got a great heart. He’s got a massive heart, like a lot of Polynesians. He’s a quiet and humble guy by nature, but the picture of such a fierce looking guy and the way he plays, contrasted with off the field as a gentle giant, it’s crazy.”
On Wednesday night, Haas will spearhead the Blues against Carrigan’s Queensland in the battle for Origin supremacy. Perhaps there is no more important player for coach Michael Maguire than Haas, the biggest enforcer in a forward pack designed to bash down the front door of the Maroons. When Haas takes his first carry of the ball, Gregor will still be waiting to be deported to Indonesia to face drug smuggling charges, which carry a threat of life in prison, or the death penalty. Last week, Gregor asked onlookers outside his detention centre to tell Payne he loved him, and he was sorry.
Haas said he never considered withdrawing from Origin, and while other players sleep to store energy or go for a casual walk, he will head to the gym for a strenuous weights workout on the morning of the match.
“I’ve never heard another player do it,” Merhi laughs. “But it helps his nerves and keeps him calm for game day.”
Haas’ new Blues captain, Jake Trbojevic, can’t fathom what his teammate is going through. But he does know one thing will be certain at Accor Stadium.
“When you talk about other things, he’s great at compartmentalising them,” Trbojevic says. “When he’s out there competing, that’s all that matters at the time. You’ve got to admire that about him. It’s crazy how he does it.
“You’ve got to remember, he’s only 24. Nothing seems to faze him. And you watch, his last run is always as good as his first.”
Sydney Morning Herald
