Sonny Bill Williams was involved in more than his fair share of transfers during his career, not least between clubs but even between sports and recent reports have suggested that he’s had a role in another transfer saga.
The saga in question is of course that of Payne Haas who made headlines when requesting a release from current club Brisbane Broncos despite having two years left on his current contract. He then withdrew the request less than a week later.
After this rival clubs began to circle Haas who is said to be earning $750,000 this season whilst the media turned their attention to close friend Sonny Bill Williams relating this contract dispute to the one which ended Williams’ time at Canterbury according to Zero Tackle.
Following this, Williams has shot down claims that he played any sort of role in the controversy at Brisbane when speaking to the Sydney Morning Herald.
He said: “I find it quite amusing that I am being painted as the person telling Payne to break his contract.
“I want to make it very clear. I support Payne in everything and anything he wants to do in his career decisions or in any direction he decides to go in.
“He has a direct line to me when he wants to discuss his future, his faith and his family. Payne is my brother and I have his back and his best interests at the very front of my mind. But I have not instructed him to do anything. He’s his own man and people need to respect him for that.
“To say otherwise is an insult to him, and there is a lot more to Payne than people know.”
It remains to be seen what will become of Haas but the controversy hasn’t derailed his season as he leads the way in a number of stats for forwards in the NRL and is set to feature in State of Origin this week.
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