The Payne Haas saga has calmed down for now, but debate continues over the handling of the superstar prop’s contract negotiations with Brisbane – and who is really “pulling the strings”.
Haas and his manager Tyran Smith dropped a bombshell by demanding immediate release from his Broncos contract last week as the 22-year-old seeks an upgrade on his $800,000-a-year deal.
The club rejected the request and the The parties have now agreed to postpone further talks until the end of the season.
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Veteran Daily Telegram journalist Phil Rothfield warned “this will come back again” when discussing the situation on NRL 360 on Wednesday night and also targeted Haas’ agent.
“I’ll tell you what I’m really disappointed with… this colleague Tyran Smith who is said to be looking after Payne Haas has not been seen at Nobbys,” Rothfield said.
“He was the one who sent the 10:30 p.m. email demanding immediate release, had no conversations before that. Since then, every member of the media has tried to contact him.”
Braith Anasta told Rothfield whether Khoder Nasser, no longer a registered NRL agent, was really in charge of the situation through Haas.
“Khoder is undoubtedly (pulling the strings) because Payne Haas admitted that Sonny Bill Williams is involved in his advice, so if Sonny Bill is involved, Khoder is involved,” Rothfield said.
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“But the bottom line is that we can only handle paperwork. Khoder is not a registered manager, his registered manager is Tryan Smith.
“It’s his (Smith’s) job to look after the player and not put him in the position where he was booed by 30,000 last night.
“He leaks to a journalist… the soft side of the story, but he doesn’t answer the phone or explain to anyone why he left that player in the position he has.”
Anasta intervened to defend Smith.
“I think he’s a great real estate agent. I know him well…I see him around Coogee, he trains all the young kids, he takes care of the young guys. I think he got caught up in something here that’s just has gotten a little too out of hand and I sympathize with him in this situation,” said Anasta.
“…I hear Khoder is behind it.”
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The panel also debated whether Haas should take responsibility for the resistance, regardless of who really advised him.
“The player has to take responsibility. You can’t say it all falls on the agent,” said Brent Read.
“I’d be surprised if he sent that (email) without Payne Haas knowing. Payne Haas made that possible.”
Paul Kent added: “What is often lost in a lot of these situations is that the players forget that the agent is working for them and they are just too often told what to do and how to behave and what is going to happen by the agent and just go along with it in the belief that the agent knows..
“In this case, the agent has a deliberate tactic of agitating and irritating the Broncos to the point where they could just go ‘you know what, you’re not worth it’.”
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