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Payne Haas proves a handful for the Storm defence in round 27.Credit: Getty Images<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re honoured to be fuelling Payne,\u201d owner Moey Altaaf Sharif says. \u201cWe\u2019re all mad Broncos supporters and the amount of meat he gets through is probably close to $700 a fortnight, to give him the protein and fuel he needs to play the way he does. I\u2019m so proud to be helping in any way.\u201d<\/p>\n
Haas\u2019 partner, Leilani Mohenoa, shared the 25-year-old\u2019s diet and nutrition breakdown with this masthead, with six game-day eggs, half-a-dozen shots of coffee each day and a fondness for \u201cfancy cookies\u201d the highlights.<\/p>\n
Haas will go without food or water while observing Ramadan, regardless of his training or game-day commitments, and he made his NSW State of Origin debut while fasting during daylight hours in 2019.<\/p>\n
Former Blues staffer Hayden Knowles can still recall a then-19-year-old Haas snoring during one midweek meditation session when the rookie\u2019s early wake-ups to refuel caught up with him.<\/p>\n
The Muslim holy month has also happened twice when Brisbane have played in Darwin<\/a> in recent years. Not that you\u2019d know it watching Haas perform in 35-degree heat and 70 to 80 per cent humidity, having fasted right up to kick-off.<\/p>\n His numbers in those games? An average of 55 minutes for 16 runs, 199 metres, 7.5 tackle busts and 26 tackles a game.<\/p>\n The genetics and athletics<\/b><\/p>\n Stories of Haas\u2019 freakish engine and aerobic capacity were known in NRL circles long before he actually played at the top level. The impression he left at the Warriors when the club was trying to sign him as a 15-year-old still endures.<\/p>\n Only a few centimetres shorter than he is now, and only five kilos lighter than his current 119kg weight, Haas beat all but a few of Stephen Kearney\u2019s first-grade squad in a series of fitness drills.<\/p>\n Payne Haas playing for Keebra Park High as a teenager.Credit: NRL Photos<\/p>\n The then-Warriors coach was unimpressed and sprayed his NRL stars accordingly. When retelling the story now, those same players finish with \u201cwell it was Payne Haas\u201d.<\/p>\n That same motor has delivered regular wins in 1.2km time trials at the Broncos, and can be traced back through a schoolboy history that included numerous 800-metre wins and an Australian under-11s record for shot put. He pinched that one from former Test and Origin star Jamal Idris.<\/p>\n Haas has long put his stunning aerobic capacity down to endless kilometre-long laps of a hellish hill near his family\u2019s Gold Coast home, and the watchful eye of his father, Gregor.<\/p>\n \u201cEvery morning and every afternoon, I\u2019d be training, doing hills,\u201d Haas said recently.<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cMy dad used to be a sprinter and a hurdler. He went to the Pan Pacific Games as a kid. So he used to train me hard. He also was in the military for a bit, so he was pretty [disciplined]. He would drop us off at random places 6km away and tell us to run home.<\/p>\n Payne Haas in full flight at training during grand final week.Credit: NRL Photos<\/p>\n \u201cMy dad used to say, \u2018You don\u2019t want to be a typical Polynesian and be all power, your fitness has to be No.1\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n Through 25 years of high-performance management and now coaching roles in rugby league, Knowles has trained Origin stars, Penrith\u2019s premiership winners and champions at the Knights, Eels and Roosters.<\/p>\n \u201cI rate athletes like Jarryd Hayne, Timana Tahu and more recently guys like Marky Mark [Nawaqanitawase] as some of the best athletes I\u2019ve coached,\u201d Knowles says.<\/p>\n \u201cBut I believe Payne Haas is, overall, the best athlete I\u2019ve worked with in 25 years.<\/p>\n \u201cHe takes the title for combining speed, power, endurance, mindset, physical and mental toughness all into one.\u201d<\/p>\n A Madge made in heaven<\/b><\/p>\n For all of Haas\u2019 god-given gifts and a talent-laden Broncos squad rival coaches would do terrible things to acquire, Michael Maguire prizes his giant front-rower\u2019s mind above all else.<\/p>\n \u201cThe best athlete I\u2019ve worked with in 25 years\u201d: Payne Haas has impressed for a long time with his physical gifts.Credit: Steven Siewert<\/p>\n How could he not, considering Maguire\u2019s own force of will<\/a>? He shares a career-long bond with Adam Reynolds from their days at Souths and loves Reece Walsh\u2019s understated footballing brain.<\/p>\n But Haas\u2019 ability to set aside injury, fatigue and scarcely fathomable family dramas is what Maguire treasures most.<\/p>\n Haas\u2019 dominance of Origin I this year with the best performance of his Blues career<\/a> came after he trained for all of 15 minutes beforehand and played with a grade two quadriceps tear.<\/p>\n It also came with Maguire telling the Blues staff<\/a> not to worry about his fitness 10 days earlier, just that \u201che\u2019ll play for sure \u2013 you need him to win\u201d.<\/p>\n Prop and coach approach the game the same way after all, and neither Maguire nor Haas have considered reducing his training loads in the name of long-term preservation.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s bloody enjoyable to coach when you\u2019ve got players that are pushing boundaries,\u201d Maguire says.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen you\u2019ve been given the gift of a motor like Payne\u2019s got, you let him go after the higher end of what he can do. His dedication to training rubs off on everyone.\u201d<\/p>\n Pay dirt is when the Broncos\u2019 goal-line defence ends the season of four-time premiers Penrith, with Haas the most desperate of all, having already done the most work.<\/p>\n In a season when he has battled that quad tear and a bulging disc in his back<\/a>, claimed a fifth Dally M prop of the year award (in the past seven years) and taken his game to another level, Haas will on Sunday chase the premiership he is still yet to win.<\/p>\n In the eyes of Andrew Johns<\/a>, Steve Roach, Glenn Lazarus and a cavalcade of modern-day icons, it\u2019s just a matter of time before Haas pushes past Lazarus as the greatest prop since Arthur Beetson.<\/p>\n Haas dismisses the suggestion instantly because he has never won a title.<\/p>\n Loading<\/p>\n \u201cI feel like I\u2019ve achieved everything individually and in rep teams,\u201d Haas says, having recently watched grand final replays to study the performances of Lazarus, Paul Harragon and Shane Webcke when performing mattered most.<\/p>\n \u201cThe ring is the final thing I\u2019m missing.\u201d<\/p>\n But with his butcher\u2019s ambassador role, astounding athleticism and eclectic heritage, Haas is already something the likes of which rugby league has never seen.<\/p>\n NRL is Live and Free on Channel 9 & <\/b>9Now<\/b><\/a>.<\/p>\n![\"Payne](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/dc75788155f1e3de1e456da72b9ca4ea25d9566e.jpeg\")
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