The dust is still settling on the most shocking signing in recent NRL history, with Payne Haas agreeing to join the Rabbitohs from 2027 onwards. It’s a transfer so surprising that the pessimistic branch of the Souths cohort are patiently waiting for the ten-day cooling off period to expire, before allowing themselves to celebrate.
And who could blame them? Signings like this don’t feel real. In the 118-year history of South Sydney, this is the biggest bit of transfer business the club has ever done (or second biggest behind Greg Inglis, but that’s a debate for another time).
Before we delve into the nuts and bolts of this and how transformative of a signing it is, it’s genuinely refreshing to see a story like this come entirely out of left field.
So what happens next? Souths have added a once-in-a-generation player, and failure is not an option after you take a swing like this.
When a player of Haas’ value becomes available, you don’t ask questions about financial flexibility or roster construction – you just get him. But as it stands, the Bunnies will be investing a huge chunk of their cap space in positions outside of fullback, halves, and hooker, which goes against most modern wisdom.
Cody Walker is a superstar, but just turned 36 and is coming off the most injury-disrupted season of his career. Ashton Ward and Jamie Humphreys both showed promise last year, and the arrival of Jonah Glover will make for good competition for that No.7 jersey.
Beyond Jye Gray (and even he could end up being moved again if Souths are dissatisfied with shifting Latrell Mitchell to centre), you can’t with any great confidence pencil in who else will be in that spine in 2027 – it’s almost like an NFL team having elite play in the trenches, but without the quarterback to make it all click.
But even with average halves play, the best-case version of a team with Mitchell, Haas, Fifita, and Cameron Murray can beat anyone. This, of course, is something that Souths fans have heard frequently for the last three years regarding the hypothetical fitness of a perpetually-injured squad, so we’ll see what happens.
All of this can be worried about later because, again, they’ve signed the best forward in the world. There is not a team in the NRL that wouldn’t sign Haas if given the chance, blithely handwaving the financial implications as something to be worried about later. But in Souths’ case, it isn’t all that complex with Keaon Koloamatangi heading to the Dragons after this season.
The only certainty in what the Haas era will look like for Souths is that wasting several years of his prime would be absolutely criminal. This signing means that there’s no more room for error, no more seasons lost to bulk injuries and certainly not another three years of missing the finals, as they’ve done from 2023 to 2025.
The last time Souths missed the finals three years in a row (2008 to 2010), they signed Greg Inglis. Now, they’ve signed Payne Haas. But who will be the Adam Reynolds and Luke Keary this time around?
