Payne Haas says his Broncos career is starting to feel like it is running out of road, and the prospect of walking away from the club where he has spent his entire professional life is hitting harder by the week. The 26-year-old front-rower said he is getting emotional as the reality of his departure settles in, even with Brisbane still his present and not just his past.
The timing is why Payne Haas Broncos Departure News is drawing attention now. Haas is in NSW Origin camp and preparing for Game 2 against Queensland at the MCG next week, having worked his way back into Laurie Daley’s side after missing the series opener through injury. That means he is talking about the end of one era while still in the middle of one of the biggest weeks of his season.
Haas said he had been through a lot at the Broncos and that the move is especially hard because so many of the people around him have been there since his debut as a teenager. He said the team has shared the highs and lows together, and that leaving those mates behind will be “pretty hard.” The sentiment matters because Haas has not just been another name in Brisbane’s pack; he has been one of the club’s defining players and one of the NRL’s premier front-rowers.
He has already confirmed he will join Souths on a three-year deal from 2027, ending a Brisbane stretch that began when he broke into first grade as a teenager. For the Broncos, it closes the book on a long-serving star whose rise has been tied to the club’s modern identity, and for Haas it marks a rare move away from the only professional home he has known.
There is also a personal layer to the exit that keeps surfacing. Kotoni Staggs and Haas came through the ranks together in Brisbane, and Haas has described them as being like brothers. That makes the goodbye even sharper, because this is not simply about a contract change or a roster shuffle; it is about leaving behind a network built over years, not months.
The contrast with Tom Flegler’s departure shows how much Brisbane’s player exodus has already changed. Flegler said Haas’ status as the game’s premier front-rower was part of the reason he left after the Broncos’ 2023 grand final loss to Penrith, while Wayne Bennett was a big reason he headed to the Dolphins. He said he wanted to be the player he wanted to be and develop further, adding that Brisbane’s dominant forwards meant he needed to get out from under their shadow and try his own thing.
That history gives Haas’ situation extra weight. Flegler later spent 677 days sidelined by a career-threatening shoulder injury in 2024 before scoring the Maroons’ second try in Origin 1, a reminder of how quickly football careers can turn. Haas, meanwhile, is still in the middle of his prime and still chasing the next Origin win, but his words make clear that the end of his Broncos chapter is no longer theoretical. The countdown has started, and Brisbane will soon have to imagine life without the prop who grew up in front of it.
