On Wednesday evening, when he claimed his first state of origin man of the Match Award, Payne Haas had one of those games so you think he could wear the whole world on his shoulders.
A performance like this by Haas in Origin is a long time ago. He has been marked for greatness since he was another boy because his strengths have been so blindingly clear.
In a game made for large, strong men, Haas is the largest and the strongest and can go the longest. That has been true since he was pushed for the first time in a New South Wales sweater as a 19-year-old with only 10 NRL competitions to his name.
That was now a long time ago. Of the blues that played on Wednesday evening, only Latrell Mitchell, Nathan Cleary and Angus Crichton made their origin debut for Haas.
Since then he has been an automatic selection when he is fit and even if he is not fit-ash he was in the run-up to this game while he is still a quad injury moisture he is still important to have around.
Haas has previously played strong origin matches, in victory and defeat. His efforts for the Broncos are proof that he is the Apex Predator in the first rows of Jungle, but this game was a showcase of his all -round quality.
He is an excellent athlete – enough so that NFL teams have made a few phone calls about the big boy with the fast feet when Haas was still at school – but he is also an excellent football player in a way that is much subtle than the bash and crash of the middle third part of the field.
Let’s start with the numbers because they are powerful, as always. Haas finished with 18 points for 154 meters, five tackle busts, three offloads and 30 tackles without miss.
But they don’t tell the full story of how Haas bent the game for his will. In a world consumed by fantasy sports, we can sometimes reduce a player to the level of their statistics, even a player like Haas who draws up high counts in every category where you could ask for a plug.
There was the good feeling and agile hands that he showed in linking with Nathan Cleary in the run -up to the first attempt.
There was the second attempt that forced a mistake by Harry Grant that assured possession for the blues, and on the subsequent a gloomy run that a defender caught offside before Brian To’o tried.
There were kick -strikes, where he led first when the Blues songs piled up in Queensland -Kick to turn the screws on the smaller back of the Maroons.
All in all, his first stint was for 30 minutes just anger and finely tightened power. It placed the blues on it and despite a shaky moment or two, with such a foundation, Queensland could not move them.
Haas showed his all -round quality in an excellent display. ((Getty Images: Bradley Kanaris))
In any case, it would have been amazing and, since he was in the run -up, according to the estimate of Laurie Daley, about a quarter of a training session, it was amazing.
His second stint was more difficult. The game was in the balance after Brian To’o’s Sin-Bin and a number of poor goalkicking had just left Ajar enough for Queensland to make their way if they were able.
But Haas never seems to be slowing, never seems to get tired, it never seems to feel the combustion, even when the heat rises. If what drives him, could be converted into pure energy, the oil prices would fall.
In the second half there were fewer disastrous runs, but he still dragged defenders. Early in the game he swirled one or two wide, shaking the stadium with his charges. Later it was all in the guts against the other big boys.
Haas ended with more postcontactors than some Queensland attackers had meters, further proof that, regardless of the kind of fight, he bends against no one.
There were less broken tackles, but more off-ball movement hare runs so fast to get into position to be an extra bait if some players do when they walk the ball.
It is an underestimated facet of his game and the proof that he does not pursue statistics or strings himself on easy meters. He attacks the non -glamorous things of winning as much as he does bone and blood fights.
Some of the best Yardage attackers in the competition can be found without the ball, but the defense of Haas remained impeccable, even when the game became sharper and harder, both one-on-one and in gang tackles to slow down the Queensland truck.
All in all, Haas is the total package when it comes to Prop Forward game, as if he grew up in a laboratory by a crazy scientist who loved genetic manipulation as they loved late footwork before the defensive line and fast forward collisions.
As strong as Haas was, it was not a one -man show. Without Haas, Zac Lomax would not have been a good choice for the man of the competition in itself, since he excelled in Yardage, a double scored, helped to set up the match seals that spent time on both wings to cover for to’o’s sin bin.
His last 12 months on the flank, after initially against the move, is proof that you find it.
Apart from the time in the tank, To’o was also strong, Stephen Crichton had defensively a blinder and Angus Crichton continued the kind of form that won him a Wally Lewis medal last year.
But this was the night of Haas, his moment to be worn highly when someone had his strength and they don’t come along often enough.
It is not that Haas does not get his contribution – he is, and he deserves them as one of the few things that Brisbane can trust if their season gets out of hand.
It is that Haas has reached that special level of performance, where what is expected goes beyond what another player can usually produce.
A normal Payne Haas game can be the game of the life of another man, so for a match of his striking he really has to become superhuman.
Only the best reach that level where we get used to their miracle and hare is a miracle.
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