Payne Haas called out over ugly State of Origin truth as damning numbers come to light

Payne Haas has been called out for his failure to dominate in the State Origin arena like he has in the NRL with the Brisbane Broncos. Haas has won five consecutive Paul Morgan Medals as the Broncos' player of the year and he's also been named Dally M prop of the Year for the last four years running. But much like the criticism often levelled at Nathan Cleary, the rampaging front-rower has failed to take an Origin series by the scruff of the neck.

Former premiership winner and NRL 360 host Braith Anasta brought up the discussion about Haas on Wednesday night's show after analysing some of his numbers at NRL level, compared to Origin. Haas is one of the most destructive forwards in the NRL where he averages around 160 metres per game, but at Origin level that number drops to 111 metres.

In terms of post-contact metres, Haas averages 70 per game in the NRL compared to 45 at Origin level and his tackle busts go down from 3.62 per game for the Broncos to just 1.25 for the Blues. Several factors such as game time and quality of the opposition certainly factor into the discrepancies between his figures, but the truth is Haas has yet to stamp his mark on an Origin series like some of the great Origin props of the past, such as Shane Webcke, Petero Civenociva, Glenn Lazarus and Paul Harragon.

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“Is he not owning it for NSW at Origin level? There’s a significant difference between his Broncos form and his form for NSW,” Anasta said on NRL 360. Fox League's James Hooper replied: “He’s won four or five Paul Morgan medals as Brisbane’s best player. I don’t know how many Dally M Prop of the Year awards, but it would be a similar number.

“At club level he’s regarded as one of the elite front rowers in the game but at State of Origin level, he’s yet to deliver for the Blues. The challenge is on. I like the fact that it’s become in the headlines and being the style of player and he bloke that he is, I think that he will handle it.”

Payne Haas challenged to step up at State of Origin level

Queensland and Broncos legend Gorden Tallis said while it was hard to compare numbers between club and representative footy, he conceded that Haas "hasn’t dominated" on the Origin stage for NSW like he so often does for Brisbane. “I think if you put most stats up against Origin stats, it’d probably be the same (as Haas’). It’s such a difficult arena,” Tallis said.

“Payne has done his job in State of Origin but he just hasn’t dominated. we’ve watched him at club level do his 20 hit ups and he’s the best player on the field, but he’s yet to really dominate for NSW.” Anasta said that was the challenge now for Haas to start influencing games more for his state like he does at clubland.

“That's the point. If you put everyone’s stats up they are going to be quite different between Origin and club land but not the greats and not the ones that make a difference,” Anasta replied. Hooper agreed and said you only needed to go back and analyse some of the great Origin front-rowers of the past to see the impact they had on games and series for their state.

“If you go back over all the great front rowers, whether they played for NSW or Queensland, Glenn Lazarus, Shane Webcke, Petero Civonceva, Steve Roach, Mark O’Meley from the Blues more recently. They get it done and they win series. That’s the challenge for Payne.”