Rothfield confirms what we all guessed, Payne's agent leaked the story to the press.
Ben Ikin:
“In the longer term we may not end up being aligned. We may not be able to get aligned with what Payne and his management want based on our salary cap position. What you have got to remember is the 16 or 17 clubs are all in different parts of their roster management cycle. Some have got more to spend than others. Others like us are trying to keep a whole stack of good young players together in the hope that we win a competition together. And the timing isn’t always right for every player.”
“For Payne what I would say is that asking for a release effective immediately is an extreme tactic. But I also acknowledge that this guy plays a brutal collision sport in the toughest position on the field and I think we have all noticed how well he does it. How single-minded you have to be to do it as well as he does at such a young age."
“He has been the club’s best player in the most turbulent part of its history for the last three years, so for all the things the club has done for him, he has also done for us. In this instance the course of action he took we certainly don’t agree with, but we are not going to completely write off the bloke.”
Kent:
“There is no way the Broncos are going to pay what he wants. As Ikin referred to there, they are in a period of their cycle of cap management where they want to keep the Cobbo’s and those sorts of players. Those guys are all on the rise. There is a crop of young kids coming through who are all going to be asking for more money, including Payne Haas. They are all going to be asking for more money in their contracts. The difference is Payne Haas is already close to what he is worth on the open market, where as the likes of Cobbo you would say they are not. I don’t think the Broncos can go much higher and I don’t think many clubs will.”
Rothfield:
“Basically all we have had is a postponement for four months. This will come up again. Instead of interrupting State of Origin, it will interrupt Mal Meninga and the World Cup team going to England because that is all Peter Badel at the Courier Mail and all of us will be writing about, what his next move is.”
“His registered manager is Tyran Smith and it is his job to look after the player and not put him in a position where he was booed by 30-odd thousand the other night. He leaks to one journalist the soft side of the story, but he will not pick up the phone and explain to anyone why he has left that player in the position he has.”
“It is the agent’s job to say listen, read the room Payne. If you go ahead with this you are going to look really, really bad.”
Brent Read:
“But you can’t just point the finger at the agent. What is Haas doing? Are you saying the agent sent the email without Haas even knowing? The player has got to take some responsibility. You can’t say it all falls on the agent.”