$800,000: Broncos face exodus of

Andrew Johns is making a cheeky play to bring Payne Haas to the Hunter as Brisbane faces the realisation more stars will have to leave amid a salary cap squeeze.

The Broncos are licking their wounds from a disastrous 2024 NRL season in which they finished outside the top eight less than a year after narrowly losing a grand final to Penrith.

Both those clubs are victims of the league’s salary cap, losing quality players following last year’s premiership decider and with more on their way out the door in the coming weeks.

But the Panthers have three premierships to help soothe the pain, while the Broncos haven’t brought any NRL silverware to Red Hill since 2006.

Kevin Walters has arguably the league’s most talented squad at his disposal but the catch is several of the players demand big money.

Prop Payne Haas and fullback Reece Walsh will both pocket more than $1 million from the club next year, while teammates like Ezra Mam, Patrick Carrigan, Selwyn Cobbo and Kotoni Staggs are on lucrative contracts.

Veteran halfback Adam Reynolds has been earning about $800,000 but is believed to have taken a significant pay cut to remain at the club next year.

Brisbane director and club legend Darren Lockyer revealed this week the Broncos can’t afford to offer gun No.7 Sam Walker a contract in what would have been the perfect solution to replacing Reynolds.

“The interesting one is the halfback, what’s going to happen to the halfback,” Johns told Wide World of Sports’ Immortal Behaviour.

“Reynolds will finish at the end of next year I think. He will be the first to admit his body is crumbling on him, and how many games he plays next year, how many he can actually play (no one knows).

“They need to keep their superstars on the field. They keep Reece and Reynolds and these players (on the field) and they are in the top eight.

“They’ve lost some (stars already) – the loss of Herbie Farnworth was a huge one, the loss of (Tom) Flegler, those two in particular were massive losses (last year).

“I don’t think they recovered from losing those two.”

The issue for the Broncos is they face losing more star players despite a dismal season on the field.

Club legend Corey Parker believes at least one State of Origin player will have to go from the star-studded backline.

“I don’t think they can keep both Kotoni Staggs and Selwyn Cobbo,” Parker told SEN Queensland.

“You’ve got Walsh, Staggs, Cobbo, Mam, Reynolds plus Carrigan and Haas, they can’t all be on big money deals.”

If the club is looking to offload a big-money player, there is one Johns has his eye on as a potential Knights recruit.

“I’d say Payne would be on huge money,” Johns said of Haas.

“Maybe they let Payne go and let him come back to Newcastle where he was brought up, that would be nice.”

Haas is said to be earning $1.1 million a season from Brisbane but is contracted until the end of 2026 and the Broncos are unlikely to entertain a release.