House of Payne: The support act lifting prop star to a new level at Broncos

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Lee Briers, the Welshman who once kicked five glorious field goals in a losing effort, won’t give up the Broncos’ magic number.

But the attack coach– rated by the Johns brothers, Allan Langer and Kevin Walters as one of rugby league’s sharpest minds – graciously offers pretty much everything else.

So, we’ll make do with the figures behind Payne Haas’ career-best form as the NRL’s premier front-rower, which have played a crucial role in leading Brisbane to the top of the ladder.

Twenty offloads in seven games, at almost triple the rate Haas was popping passes last season. And because an offload is only as good as the man catching it, 54.3 support runs a game.

Brisbane rank first in the NRL in the statistic Briers and Walters have prioritised above all others this season. They were in 16th position on the ladder and in support play when Walters’ tenure started in 2021.

“Push supports – it means you’ve got energy and you’re able to take energy away from the defence,” Briers tells The Age and the Herald, referring to off-the-ball decoy runs and outside support runners.

Briers arrived at Red Hill last year as a development coach with a biography titled Off the Cuff, more than 400 games and no less than 74 field goals for Warrington – where he played alongside Langer, Walters and Andrew Johns in a storied career.

Within a month he was promoted to working out the Broncos’ attack and given a pet project: mastering Payne.

The buzz around Haas’ value has changed from last season: Brisbane are prepared to make him the first $1 million forward in the club’s history at a time when the consensus is that seven-figure salaries are reserved for playmakers. In other words, match winners.

“Bargain,” Johns said earlier this month when it came to paying Haas $1 million or more a year, “absolute bargain.”

NSW coach Brad Fittler agreed at the time, and this week marvelled at Haas’ new-found ability with the ball, no doubt banking it away for the Blues’ Origin campaign in six weeks.

“He’s definitely doing more than just his regular hit-ups this year,” Fittler says.

“The more you watch him, the more you can see his decision-making getting a lot better, and he’s pulling through tackles, causing headaches more and more.

“It’s still early stages I think, which is pretty impressive because Payne seems to still be thinking run first and that’s golden when it comes to those offloads.”

Which is where Briers comes in.

When the Dragons had pushed Brisbane for 73 minutes in round three and still only trailed 24-18, the Swiss-Samoan-Filipino genetics of Haas’ phenomenal motor kicked in. He stuck his head through the line and popped a peach of a pass to Pat Carrigan, who in turn found Reece Walsh.

“If there’s an offload, Reece is there,” Briers says. “And that’s one of our non-negotiables for support players and who’s got to be there.

“Each position on the field has their support play target and their number to hit. Then there’s the team total we’re targeting for our push supports, too. Those stats have gone through the roof and we want to be coming through in waves against the opposition.”

This is Briers’ and the Broncos’ magic number – the only insight he won’t share. But he claims in six years of coaching in the Super League, only once did his team hit their push support target and lose, and only after getting a player sent off in the first 10 minutes.

Brisbane have hit their target six times for six wins this year, Haas thriving in Walters’ high-octane attacking structure.

“Growing up, Payne was always the big kid who could run through people and so he’d be the first person to admit he didn’t have to worry about where he’s running,” Briers says.

“Watching Payne from afar, he’d take the ball really close to the dummy half and the markers can get out and chop his legs, get three in the tackle and dominate him.

Lee Briers kicks a field goal for Wales against Australia in the 2000 World Cup semi-final.Credit: NRL Photos

“The width of pass and width of catch and what Payne sees, is our focus. He IDs what’s in front of him: ‘Is there space on an edge? Is it behind the ruck?’

“He’s picking this up really quickly. His footy IQ is really high and it’s a joy to watch him do it and work with him.”

Haas will do his thing again on Friday night against Parramatta’s own prize pairing of Junior Paulo and Reagan Campbell-Gillard. It is expected to be 28 degrees in Darwin, with the barometer pushing 75 per cent humidity around kick-off.

Haas will finish his sixth year of observing Ramadan during a season just an hour earlier, completing his latest month of training and playing without drinking or eating during daylight hours.

Glenn Lazarus, the best front-rower Brisbane ever had, can’t get enough of it.

“He’s the best prop in the game right now, even though there’s some great front-rowers running around, and the sky’s the limit,” Lazarus says.

“The best offloads for me come when a player bends or breaks the line, when it’s your second thought.

“You create that opportunity with a quality carry and then that pass is so much harder to defend. When you see Payne and Patty Carrigan combining passes together and bouncing off each other, it’s just beautiful to watch”.

Given Haas weighs 117 kg, stands at 194 kg and regularly wins fitness tests at Red Hill, adding an offload to his arsenal leaves you wondering what else is needed in his game at the tender age of 22.

Payne Haas: Always a handful.Credit: Getty

With four straight Paul Morgan medals as Brisbane’s best player, Haas’s contract imbroglio last year saw the prospect of exit clauses based on the team’s performances raised by his camp. Premierships have been on his mind for a while now.

“The next step for Payne and myself as a coach is to stay ahead of the competition, because other coaches will work out how to shut down that offload,” Briers says.

“We’ve got to stay ahead of the curve, not just Payne but everyone at the Broncos. We’re not stopping or taking a break just because we’re top of the ladder after seven rounds.”

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