Brisbane Broncos forward Payne Haas has reportedly received a six-year offer from the club to stay put at Red Hill.
Currently on a deal worth near $750,000 a season until 2024, News Corp revealed that the Broncos’ board had approved a new six-year offer for the 21-year-old that’d see his pay significantly increase.
As one of the best players in the competition at such a young age, rugby league great Cameron Smith believes Haas should be careful in committing to the club this early in the piece.
With his form trending upwards, Smith believes Haas could be better served signing shorter term contracts to continually earn more money if his football continues on its current trajectory.
“You’ve just got to be careful,” Smith said on SEN’s Pat and Heals.
“Once you sign a contract, clearly you agree to the terms of the length of the contract and the financial part of it as well.
“When you sign, clearly, you’re happy with the terms of the deal at the time, so it’s really hard to turn around and say two years into that contract that, ‘I’m worth more money’, if you weren’t playing well, would you turn around and volunteer to give up money? I don’t think so.
“You’ve got to be careful there, if you’re playing well enough and your actions and football is doing the talking then any club in their right mind would come to you and say, ‘You’re doing a good job, let’s have some discussions on extending your contract and upgrading your current terms’.”
While Smith warned Haas to be careful, he believes he already has the right people around him and enough maturity to realise where he should head with an extension.
“I just think he needs to be careful with the way he goes about it, which I think he is,” Smith added.
“He’s certainly backing it up on the field, and there’s certainly no dramas between he and the club but it’s just something he needs to sort out away from footy.”
Haas has currently put contract talks on hold with the club, but it’s believed the Broncos are in the box seat to secure his signature in the near future.