Many people expected the first marquee Friday night fixture of the NRL season to be nothing more than a routine get-right game for the reigning back to back premiers, the Penrith Panthers, as the Brisbane Broncos rolled into the far west of Sydney.
After a meek and rusty showing against the St Helens Saints in the World Club Challenge, with a young Broncos team that has notoriously travelled poorly in recent times, the stage was set for a resounding opening to Penrith’s title defence.
What script?
Brisbane, somewhat against the convention of the last few years given both the ladder positions of both respective franchises and the reputations of both forward packs as a whole, have always been able to stick with the classic Penrith game style for a lot longer than most other teams.
By now you’d be well aware, the Penrith gameplan is less about sharp precision and tricking a team to sleep, but rather death by a thousand water droplets, a constant stream of unrelenting and consistent pressure that only ends with the inevitable blinking of a tiring opponent, and once that dam wall breaks, it’s a veritable avalanche.
Brisbane have had the personnel throughout the last few years of Penrith supremacy, with players capable of bossing opposition forward packs like Matt Lodge and Tevita Pangai Junior having passed through the halls at Lang Park.
But the one constant is Payne Haas.
On Friday night, Haas took 19 carries, with his 207 running metres and 84 post contact metres both team-best marks. But it isn’t the raw numbers that blow you away when you watch a Payne Haas masterclass, which isn’t to say those numbers aren’t impressive when they so very clearly are.
No, when you watch a Haas game like this one, against a premier middle forward rotation of James Fisher-Harris, Moses Leota, Isaah Yeo and Spencer Leniu, what sticks out is the tireless nature of his work, the consistency with which he bends the line, and how his work isn’t just one way.
For comparison, Leota led the Penrith forward contingent with 160 metres, while Yeo and Fisher-Harris barely cracked the century mark.
Now before I go any further, running metres are obviously not the be all and end all of a forward’s performance, and there are certainly other statistical marks that outline how dominant a performance Haas had.
His 7 tackle breaks tied Panthers fullback Dylan Edwards for the game high mark, while he stuck all 27 of his tackles.
To me, though, Haas’ most impressive attribute is his freakish endurance in the middle of the park.
Having a big minute front rower isn’t a luxury in the modern day NRL. It’s a complete and utter rarity, an absurdity that defies belief when you consider the sheer size of the man versus the distance covered, the repetition of a defensive line, the constant short bursts of movement, the power exerted in the collision.
Haas played over 50 minutes straight on Friday before eventually getting his first rest. No matter, he returned shortly after and completed another 15 minute shift.
The reason I highlight the length of Haas’ shifts as a key point of difference for a Broncos attack that is so reliant on the strength of the middle to generate ruck speed to allow Adam Reynolds and Ezra Mam to play off that is two fold.
One, simply, Haas is just a freak player. A powerful ball runner, a constant threat to offload (although he did put it away against Penrith), and able to generate quick play the balls, Haas is the bedrock of Brisbane’s foundation in yardage work but also further afield in attacking sets.
More importantly though, is that, and this is going to sound so obvious written down, but more Haas minutes equals less replacement level front row production, which is obviously a huge benefit. But more than that, Haas’ consistent ability to outlast the opposition’s frontline allows Brisbane the opportunity to see off the cliched arm wrestle and develop a chance to gain the upper hand in the middle of the park.
James Fisher-Harris lasted 28 minutes before coming off, Leota 19. Haas doubled those comfortably, and while Penrith’s second string middle forwards of Spencer Leniu and Scott Sorensen, combined with Isaah Yeo being an 80 minute lock and Liam Martin’s versatility to move into the middle as needed mean the drop off isn’t so large, that’s in theory a huge advantage that will show up more against the lesser teams in the competition.
2023 is shaping up as a huge year for Haas, which seems odd to say about a premier prop in the game who is a nailed on NSW and Australia representative and four-straight time Broncos player of the year.
As important as Adam Reynolds is to the Broncos, as talented (if not still a bit raw) the backline is, Brisbane’s strength is right through the middle of the field.
Haas has the potential to win battles against opposition packs on his own, and if he does elevate to that higher stratosphere where no one else can touch him, coupled with Brisbane’s very friendly travel schedule in 2023, there’s a very real possibility they make all those preseason doom predictions look very silly indeed.