Rugby Australia open negotiations with Payne Haas over shock code switch

Rugby Australia have reportedly formally opened negotiations with Payne Haas over a shock switch to union as the feud between codes escalates.

According to News Corp, Rugby Australia chairman Hamish McLennan began talks with the Broncos superstar’s camp on Friday night after Brisbane beat Parramatta 26-16 in Darwin.

Rugby Australia, however, are yet to submit a formal offer at this stage. 

The development comes just a week after McLennan revealed the Wallabies had made signing the Brisbane prop their number one priority.

The audacious bid to poach another of NRL star comes less than a month after Sydney Roosters Joseph Suaalii agreed a three-year deal worth $1.6million-a-year with Rugby Australia from 2025. 

Rugby Australia have opened negotiations with Broncos star Payne Haas 

Rugby Australia boss Hamish McLennan said last week the Brisbane prop was the Wallabies’ next big target after landing Joseph Suaalii

Haas is out of contract at the end of next season and set to become a free agent from November 1. 

The New South Wales star is the Broncos’ highest-paid player this season, but Rugby Australia could table a far more lucrative offer than his current $848,000 salary.

Speaking last week, Broncos coach Kevin Walters says the club had ‘zero real reason’ to think superstar Haas will make a code-switch to rugby with a big money offer potentially on the way.

The 23-year-old did ask for a release from his deal in 2022, a request that as denied, and Walters was adamant Haas was determined to stay at the Broncos, and win a premiership, with a new deal possibly imminent.

‘I’m very confident that that will happen, it might take a few weeks but I’m sure that Payne wants to stay and we certainly want to keep him,’ Walters said.

Since replacing Dave Rennie in charge of the Wallabies in January, Eddie Jones has bullishly suggested he may raid league to convince some of the game’s biggest stars to move to rugby union. 

During Jones’ first stint with the Wallabies, Mat Rogers, Wendell Sailor and Lote Tuqiri all crossed codes in the early 2000s.

Suaalii’s switch has reignited a feud between the codes, with NRL boss Peter V’landys accusing the Sydney Roosters gun of chasing ‘easy money’.

The star prop is under contract with Brisbane through to the end of the 2024 season

Sydney Roosters star Joseph-Aukuso Suaalii signed a three-year deal with the Wallabies

On Sunday, V’landys upped the ante revealed the NRL was considering introducing salary cap exceptions.

The change would allow NRL clubs to target Wallabies stars, with V’landys clearly frustrated by Rugby Australia’s aggressive recruitment strategy.

But McLennan has vowed to continue taking the fight to the NRL. 

‘Signing Eddie Jones is a real move. Signing Joseph Suaalii is a real move,’ he told News Corp. 

‘The Lions in 2025 is a real tour and convincing the Australian Government to host the Rugby World Cup in 2027, the third biggest sporting event in the world, is real.

‘We’ve done all of this in just over two-and-a-half years, so we’re just getting started. I’m not going to get scared off by aggressive rugby league types.’

Meanwhile, rugby league greats Phil Gould, Andrew Johns and Billy Slater all dismissed McLennan’s bullish attitude as posturing and insisted rugby posed no threat to the NRL.

‘Payne Haas won’t go to rugby,’ Johns said on the Sunday Footy Show.

‘I see they’re chasing Nathan Cleary. Laughable. Why would you want to go and play rugby union? You touch the ball three times.

‘Payne Haas would go over and run the ball three times.’ 

Slater echoed the stance, suggesting money alone was not a big enough incentive for players to switch codes. 

‘The money’s not gonna turn you. It surely can’t be a money thing. The money’s really good in our game.

NRL supremo Peter V’landys revealed the league could adopt salary cap exemptions for clubs that were directly trying to recruit players from the Wallabies

Andrew Johns (left) and Billy Slater (right) insisted rugby union did not pose a serious threat to the NRL as players were unlikely to switch codes

‘Our product is the best it’s ever been. It’s a great entertainment product. It’s a great product to play.’

Gould, meanwhile, rubbished V’landys’ ploy to introduce salary cap exemptions as a ‘ridiculous idea’ that could destabilise the market.

‘Rugby is no threat to us whatsoever,’ he said on Nine’s 100% Footy.

‘They’re two different games. I’ll tell you this: their players can’t play our game and our players can’t play their game.’