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What began as a family getaway to Newcastle ended in tragedy on the side of Braidwood Road between Canberra and Goulburn.
On March 4, 1999, a red Ford Laser doing 100km/h wrapped itself around a roadside tree, killing the driver, a family friend. So severe was the impact that whiplash snapped the neck of the five-month-old boy in the child restraint, named Chace Haas.
In the weeks between baby Chace being airlifted without his parents to Prince of Wales Hospital in Sydney, and confirmation he would never know what it feels like to walk, the family discovered a surprise survivor. His mother was pregnant with a child they would name Payne Lucky Haas.
The tragedy turned their lives upside down, yet forged a bond between two brothers living completely different lives. For the next 21 years, Chace lived his life as a ventilated quadriplegic, coming to a sudden end in Gold Coast Hospital on a Wednesday afternoon in August 2020.
“I remember it vividly,” Brisbane Broncos’ giant prop Payne Haas recalls during an emotional interview.
Payne Haas gets emotional during an interview about his brother.Credit: Dan Peled
“We were playing against Canberra that week. He’d get sick from time to time and I just thought that’s what was happening. He was in hospital and I thought he was going to be all right.
“We’d just lost to the Raiders and I came back and dad gave me a call. He said, ‘Chace has 24 hours to live. He’s going to pass away.’ That broke me. I didn’t believe it.”
Granted an exemption to leave the NRL COVID-19 bubble, Payne rushed to be by his brother’s side. There was little he, or anyone, could do as Chace’s health rapidly deteriorated.
“It was the worst day of my life,” Payne said.
“I remember being in that room and seeing my mum cry. My dad cry. All these strong people who I looked up to my whole life were all crying. I couldn’t cope with it. But he still had a smile on his face. He didn’t say too much. He just looked at me and smiled.
“I don’t think he knew at the time, but he did so much for me in my life. Whenever I was down, I looked at my brother and he was happy. It would snap me right out of it. I still carry him with me to this day. I know he’d be looking down and be proud of what I’m doing. I promised him that I would make it in league. I’ve done that. Now I just carry Chace with me, trying to be the best version of myself.”
Payne Haas with brother Chace Haas throughout their teens.Credit: NRL Photos
After Chace’s death, Payne spiralled out of control. The pain turned to anger. The outbursts became more severe.
Then one day, during the preseason of 2021, just a few months after Chace’s death, the anger surfaced during a run-in with police at Tweed Heads.
Haas would later plead guilty to intimidation of a police officer after launching a verbal tirade at several officers, including a female.
He was fined $50,000 and suspended for three games by the NRL for the incident. His partner, Leilani Mohenoa, who was pregnant, was with him.
“I feel like that was the making or breaking of me as a man,” Payne said.
“I had to make some decisions there. [We had] just had my daughter at the time. I feel like that was the moment that clicked me into gear and matured me into a man. From that moment on ... I wanted to make a change in my life and make it pretty quick.
Payne Haas with his daughter Lalita and son Luckee.Credit: Dan Peled
“After Chace’s passing, I probably didn’t really react to it well, to be honest. It took me a few years to come to terms with his death. It was so hard because Chace was everything to me. We grew up doing everything together. That was the hardest three years of my life trying to get over his passing.
“I didn’t deal with it how I should have. I did things I shouldn’t have. I reacted a certain way that wasn’t ideal and got myself in trouble. Looking back now, I wish I dealt with it better, but that was God’s plan and I’ve taken my lessons from it.”
His brother’s death was not the only setback in his life. For several years, he has been looking after his siblings as his parents are behind bars.
His mother, Joan Taufua, was jailed after a horror car crash that killed three people in the Gold Coast hinterland. His father, Gregor, is detained on drug charges in the Philippines.
A screengrab from a social media post, allegedly showing the arrest of Australian Gregor Haas in the Philippines.Credit: Instagram
Many are choosing to tar Haas with the same brush as his parents.
“I can’t control what my dad does,” he says. “That doesn’t make me less of a man because of what my dad does. That’s the life he chose. I grew up with my parents day to day and I know who they are as people.
“They’ve made their mistakes, but I can’t control that. That’s their decisions and their life. But my parents also did a lot for me. It’s not all bad about my parents. They’ve made me who I am today.”
On his way to Suncorp Stadium last year, Payne was informed about his father’s predicament – if extradited to Indonesia, he could face the death penalty. The Broncos gave Haas the opportunity to withdraw from the game, but it was never an option for him.
“It would have been easy for me to walk away from that game when something goes wrong or life throws something at you like that,” Haas said.
“I want to show my siblings and my kids that you have to have the strength to go through certain hardships and come out the other side. Also, in my mind, I know there are people going through a lot worse than me. Who am I to just give up?
Brisbane Broncos player Payne Haas and his younger brothers Hans (left) and Geejay (right).Credit: Dan Peled
“I get paid good money to play footy, so that’s my job. I feel like I’ve been around chaos my whole life, so it’s pretty easy to separate my footy from my personal life.”
It’s difficult for Haas to speak about his parents in such a way as he knows it will anger some people, given the impact they have had on the lives of others. He doesn’t expect sympathy and says life has exposed him to things no child should see.
It’s the driving force behind his desire to give his two children and the two brothers he has taken in, the life he wished he had.
“I don’t want my kids to grow up in the environment I grew up around,” he said.
Payne Haas with his family.Credit: Dan Peled
“I’m trying to keep them away from that life. I want them to grow up in a house where we’re all loving, we’re all respectful. I’ve seen things that I wouldn’t wish on anyone, even my worst enemy. I don’t want that for my kids. I just want them to see their parents love each other, they care about them and they want them to do good in life.
“I’ve seen lots of people in my life go down the wrong road. Especially some of my cousins and close friends. They were probably more talented than me, but probably went down the wrong road. I feel like I’ve learnt from their mistakes and try to make that up for them by carrying them on my shoulders.”
Haas wasn’t always destined to be a footballer.
It wasn’t until the age of 14, after rigorous training set by his father, that he began to excel in a sport he now dominates.
“From 7 to 11, I sucked,” he admits.
“My mum hated it. She used to take me to games and I’d see my mum pacing up and down, and I knew I would cop a serve on the way home. My dad made me train hard after that. I started to get good around 14. My dad worked me hard. I owe a lot to him, but I also resented my dad a lot.
Payne Haas poses for a photo at Broncos training.Credit: Getty Images
“Every morning and every afternoon, I’d be training, doing hills. My dad used to be a sprinter and a hurdler. He went to the Pan Pacific Games as a kid. So he used to train me hard. He also was in the military for a bit, so he was pretty [disciplined]. He would drop us off at random places 6km away and tell us to run home.”
“My dad used to say, ‘You don’t want to be a typical Polynesian and be all power, your fitness has to be number one.’ At the time, I hated it. I was a little fatty. I just wanted to go to my grandparents’ house to eat corned beef.”
Some regard Haas as the greatest front-rower of the modern era, if not all-time. Yet, there is a glaring absence in his resume, compared to the likes of Shane Webcke, Petero Civoniceva and Glenn Lazarus.
“I feel like I do need a [premiership] ring to have that name next to me,” he responds when asked about his potential mantle as the greatest prop of the modern era.
“To have that accolade, it puts you up another level. That’s what I’m chasing now. I feel like I’ve achieved everything individually and in rep teams.
“The ring is the final thing I’m missing. We’ve got the squad. We just have to go after it. On our day, no one wants to play us.”
Enter the Penrith Panthers.
