Sam Thaiday goes public with game-changing call that has unlocked Payne Haas

Yahoo

20-03-2025

Broncos legend Sam Thaiday has praised a tweak from new coach Michael Maguire that has helped really unlock Payne Haas' influence on games and turned him into an even more formidable weapon for Brisbane. Haas has started the new season in devastating fashion to cement his status as the NRL's premier middle forward and Maguire's management of his playing time has helped Haas take his game to another new level.
The 25-year-old has always been renowned for playing big minutes and going long stretches in games without a break. Haas' extraordinary workrate, coupled with his size, power and footwork have made him a handful for opposition defences and it's no surprise he's been named Brisbane's player-of-the-season five times already.
But unlike former coach Kevin Walters, Brisbane mentor Maguire has preferred to use Haas in shorter bursts and with a clear message to go as hard as possible at the start of games, before being given a break before halftime. Under Walters, it would not be uncommon to see Haas play the entire first half and most of the second 40, but his average playing time has dropped by about five minutes in 2025 after featuring for 49 and 57 minutes in the opening two rounds.
Maguire has also seemingly given Haas a license to unleash the offload more than we've seen from the big man in the past and it's already paying dividends for the Broncos' attack. However, Thaiday reckons that the tweak in Haas' playing time is the reason why he's looked so dangerous because it allows him to put everything into a shorter stint in the opening 40 minutes of games, before being given an extended break at halftime and the beginning of the second half. The Broncos legend - who played 304 NRL games for the club - says it's also the blueprint he believes will help prolong Haas' career.
'It felt like as a 19-year-old, he was carrying the whole of the Broncos on his shoulders,' Thaiday told Nine Newspapers. 'His body is going to get banged around no matter what, and the level of commitment from Payne Haas from a representative point of view is only going to make his career tougher.
'I would love to see Payne Haas there for the next 10 years-plus playing some great, consistent footy. I don't want his body to fall apart, and I understand playing in the front row is not an easy thing to do." Thaiday used North Queensland's former Dally M Medal-winning forward Jason Taumalolo as the perfect example of a player whose body had begun to let him down after copping years of punishment playing through the middle.
"Jason Taumalolo signed a 10-year deal with the Cowboys, and is coming to the end of it now... his body is really slowing him down from being the player we all know he is," Thaiday added. 'Hopefully in hindsight, we look back and say this was a brilliant idea to limit his minutes. That might be a way of preserving Payne Haas for a long-term future at the Broncos.'
Bulldogs great and former NSW and Kangaroos prop Willie Mason is also a big fan of the way Maguire has been using Haas and says he's shocked it's taken this long for Brisbane to unleash him in such a way. "Someone's finally figured out how to coach Payne Haas," he said on the Levels podcast with Willie Mason and Justin Horo. "Play him 30 minutes, front-load, (say) 'give me everything and I'll give you a rest'. Then see how we go in the back half and then destroy the back half, that's how you do it.
"I've been saying it for three or four years that's how you should play Payne Haas. Because sometimes when he knows he's going to be out there for 60 minutes pretty much straight (he is not as effective). But 30 minutes, look what he did. He can singlehandedly destroy a team by himself."
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Shifting rep star Patrick Carrigan from lock to prop and having him work in tandem with Haas is also looking like a masterstroke from Maguire. Carrigan's class and ability to play huge minutes in the middle means Brisbane are still dangerous even without Haas on the field and Mason believes Maguire has got his strategy with Haas spot-on.
"You can leave (Pat) Carrigan out there for 60 or 70 minutes because he's a weapon. You don't stop Carrigan," Mason added. "But when Payne Haas front-loads you've got that different power, different footwork, he can just really destroy lines by himself. And offloads, he can do whatever he wants. He's more destructive in that 55-60 minutes than he was in 80.