By the time the Broncos launch their 2025 premiership campaign against the Roosters in March, it will have been 187 days between games for Payne Haas, but if pre-season training is anything to go by, the 25-year-old is primed to pick up exactly where he left off.
The Blues and Kangaroos enforcer was restricted to just 14 games due to injury in 2024 and went under the knife for surgery on his foot after a Round 26 loss to the Dolphins.
After suffering the Lisfranc injury against the Titans in Round 22, Haas seemed certain to miss the remainder of the season, but he defied the pain to front up against the Dolphins and run for 117 metres in 75 minutes of game time.
The surgery cost him a chance to represent Australia in the Pacific Championships, but he has powered through his rehabilitation and returned to Broncos training ahead of schedule in early November.
With a new coach in Michael Maguire and a new attitude to their gruelling pre-season sessions, the Broncos are desperate to revive their fortunes after slumping to 12th on the ladder in 2024 and Haas' influence will be pivotal.
Addressing the media after training on Monday, winger Jesse Arthars identified Haas and Reece Walsh as the two men who had led the way in Maguire's notoriously tough sessions.
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"Payne is always up there. He has sort of been in and out with his injury but he's always ripping in and Reece has been going pretty hard. Everyone's doing pretty well,” Arthars said.
"It's obviously a different training regime this year, so I guess the boys have been adapting to that over the last couple of weeks.
"The boys are going through their paces at the moment so it's good to see everyone hurting, and hopefully we'll benefit come Round 1.
“It's refreshing to see what Madge brings. We’re obviously still learning, it's still early days for us, but I think Madge has been really good so far."
After opposing one another in the State of Origin arena in 2024, Maguire and veteran playmaker Ben Hunt join forces next season to try and spark a revival at Red Hill.
Hunt played 187 games for the Broncos between 2009-17, missing the finals only twice in nine seasons, before heading to the Dragons where he chalked up 147 games but tasted finals action only once in seven campaigns.
"I think it's a great boost [having Ben at the club]," Arthars said.
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"Obviously he's a very experienced player and we've got a few young boys here in the position he plays and he can obviously cover a lot there so I think he's going to be a massive boost for the younger players.
"For the senior players as well, he's a leader and been around the block, so I think he's going to be massive for the club and it will good to see him return to his roots."
Another man Arthars expects big things from in 2025 is centre Kotoni Staggs, who averaged 111 run metres per game to go with 72 tackle breaks, 11 line breaks and eight tries last season.
A clear sign of Staggs' standing at the club came when he was handed the reins as captain against the Warriors in Round 17 and Dragons in Round 19 in the absence of Adam Reynolds, Pat Carrigan and Haas.
"Tones [Staggs] is a massive player in this club, and behind the four walls that you guys wouldn’t see, he’s a very big leader," Arthars said.
“He was captain a few times last year, he’s part of our leadership group and he's one of the driving forces in changing this culture and trying to make it a better place, so Tones is massive for this club."
