Payne Haas reveals what really happen on Broncos’ infamous ‘pokies’ night
Several Brisbane players were slammed for a late night poker machine session before their record finals loss to Parramatta, but Payne Haas says those reports are way off the mark.
Brisbane’s Payne Haas has revealed he and his Broncos teammates left their Sydney hotel on the eve of their crucial finals match against Parramatta looking for ice cream not to play poker machines.
Haas, Anthony Milford, David Fifita, Corey Oates, Matt Gillett and Andrew McCullough were spotted in a pub the night before the Eels thrashed the Broncos 58-nil in week one of the finals series.
The boom Bronco said he regretted the decision to go to a Surry Hills pub but has defended his teammates of any wrongdoing.
Payne Haas and Anthony Milford were two of the players spotted at a Surry Hills night spot. Picture: AAP/Joel Carrett
The Australian Test forward told The Daily Telegraph some of the reports on the incident, one of which stated Fifita played poker machines until after 11pm, were off the mark.
“I saw some stories that said the boys were out until 12am but that wasn’t true because I was there as well,” he said.
“We had massages at 8pm so we all left [the venue] before 8 o’clock. So I’m not sure where 12am came from.
“But we were all mainly out to get an ice cream and we went in quickly. We were there for 15 minutes or so … obviously we shouldn’t be doing that. But if we won, it would not have been a problem. It’s something we would take back if we could.”
Payne Haas says his teammates went out for an innocent ice cream. Picture: AAP/Brendon Thorne
Haas, who will make his Kangaroos debut against New Zealand on Friday night, also revealed Broncos players were forced to sit through a review the morning after being dismantled at the hand of the Eels at Bankwest Stadium last month.
“We had reviews the day after, I was pretty gutted, we all were with the way we bowed out. No one intends to lose a game that way but it wasn’t our day. We spoke about it, we know what we have to do and it’s something that has all the boys already keen to start pre-season,” Haas said.
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What a beat up this was.