{"id":466024,"date":"2025-08-18T11:54:49","date_gmt":"2025-08-18T11:54:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=466024"},"modified":"2025-08-18T23:17:50","modified_gmt":"2025-08-18T23:17:50","slug":"dont-know-what-its-like-haas-message-to-eligibility-critics","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=466024","title":{"rendered":"'Don't know what it's like': Haas' message to eligibility critics"},"content":{"rendered":"

Payne Haas<\/a> has opened up on his switch to Samoa<\/a> and the chain of events that led to his decision, hitting back at the detractors around his decision.<\/p>\n

Speaking on Nine's 100% Footy<\/em>, Haas said the call had been on his mind for two years after previously playing against Samoa.<\/p>\n

\ufeffNews first broke he was considering a switch in April<\/a> before it was finally confirmed last week.<\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> Huge new deal delivers AFL's first $2 million player<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> Inside the commentary booth as stony-faced greats grappled disbelief<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> Slater warns of 'dangerous territory' amid Grant furore<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Haas' decision hadn't been announced before his former Broncos coach \ufeffKevin Walters took over from Mal Meninga at the Kangaroos.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

However, by the time Walters organised a chat, it was too late. \ufeff<\/p>\n

"I made my decision before I \ufeffknew Kevvie was coaching and then obviously he was coaching and told me he wanted to have a sit down," he said.<\/p>\n

"I knew what it was about and in fairness to Kevvie he was so good about it and told me our relationship is not going to be worse off if you make that decision to go to Samoa.<\/p>\n

"I've got lots of love and respect towards Kev and I was open and honest about my decision and he respected that."<\/p>\n

Watch the 2025 NRL premiership live and free on Nine and<\/strong><\/em> 9Now<\/strong><\/em><\/a>.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Haas' decision has bought about criticism from some quarters about players going from one country to the other.<\/p>\n

\"Haas<\/p>\n

The 25-year-old has Samoan, Filipino and Swiss background and was born in Newcastle.<\/p>\n

"I'm multicultural, I've got lots of backgrounds and nationalities \ufeffand I'm proud of all of them," he said.<\/p>\n

"I don't really want to listen to those people because they don't know what it's like in my shoes."<\/p>\n

100% Footy is now available as a podcast! Subscribe\/follow via<\/strong><\/em> Apple<\/strong><\/em><\/a>,<\/strong><\/em> Spotify<\/strong><\/em><\/a> or<\/strong><\/em> Google Podcasts<\/strong><\/em><\/a>\u00a0<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Haas' decision comes with speculation around Tino Fa'asuamaleaui and Hamiso Tabuai-Fidow with both men considering a switch to Samoa too.<\/p>\n

The prop wasn't willing to divulge their thoughts yet. \ufeff<\/p>\n

"We've had talks. I won't go into depths of what we've spoken about and where we're at but they've got to follow their hearts and do what's right for them," he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Payne Haas has opened up on his switch to Samoa and the chain of events that led to his decision, hitting back at the detractors […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":466026,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/466024"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=466024"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/466024\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":466029,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/466024\/revisions\/466029"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/466026"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=466024"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=466024"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=466024"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}