Dual-code legend Wendell Sailor warns Broncos superstar Payne Haas would ‘be a waste in union’

Dual-code legend Wendell Sailor has warned Payne Haas that he would be a ‘waste’ in the union if he decided to trade league for rugby.

Last month, Rugby Australia officially opened negotiations with the Broncos star, just a week after rugby boss Hamish McLennan revealed the Wallabies has made signing the brisbane prop their number one priority.

The audacious bid to swindle Haas comes less than a month after Sydney Roosters Joseph Suaalii signed a three-year, $1.6 million a year deal with Rugby Australia from 2025.

But Sailor, who played in both codes, has warned Haas against following the Roosters gun to union.

“I want Payne Haas to stay in rugby league,” he said CODE Sports.

Last month, Rugby Australia boss Hamish McLennan said Haas was the next main target for the Wallabies, revealing that negotiations with the Broncos star had already begun.

“If rugby union gets him, good luck to them, but I think he would be a waste at union.”

Australian Rugby League president Peter V’landys has shrugged off concerns of an exodus to rugby union, but that hasn’t stopped a number of NRL stars from being linked to a code switch.

Aside from Haas, the likes of Rabbitohs star Cameron Murray, Newcastle captain Kalyn Ponga, Manly star Tolu Koula and Parramatta center Will Penisini have all been named as potential targets.

And while he thinks Haas should stay in the NRL, Sailor has warned the competition could struggle to prevent more players following Suaalii’s path.

The Wallabies may not be the draw they were when Sailor switched codes in 2001, but the prospect of a British and Irish Lions Tour and a World Cup on home soil may prove too tempting for league stars to resist.

And the former Queensland star believes the appointment of Eddie Jones has already breathed new life into Australian rugby.

During Jones’ first stint with the Wallabies, Sailor, Mat Rogers and Lote Tuqiri all crossed codes and all started for Australia in the 2003 World Cup final against England.

Since replacing Dave Rennie at the helm of the Wallabies in January, Jones has bullishly suggested he raid the league to convince some of the game’s biggest stars to switch codes.

Sailor (left) won four premierships with the Broncos, two State of Origin series with Queensland and a Rugby League World Cup with the Kangaroos

After switching to rugby union in 2001, he was capped 37 times for the Wallabies

Eddie changed the game again. The Rugby Union has caught Eddie at the right time again,’ Sailor said.

“I have no doubt that we can make it to the semi-finals. I’m not saying they will win it, but I have no doubt that we have the talented players and Eddie has this talent in the first few years that makes everyone want to play for each other.’

Sailor felt the rugby league import ‘raised the standard’ in union but admitted not everyone welcomed him and his fellow NRL stars with open arms.

“Some of it was kind of gross. David Campese and I faced each other a few times,” he explained.

‘He said ‘Sailor doesn’t have the skills to be a rugby player’ because he was trying to sign me to get me over so I said ‘David Campese was a great rugby player but I’ll treat him like a doormat’.

“I wasn’t being disrespectful, but obviously I’m not a shrinking violet.”

By the time Sailor changed code, he had won four premierships with the Broncos, two State of Origin series with Queensland and a Rugby League World Cup with the Kangaroos.

That didn’t stop him from dealing with a lot of flak, as critics accused him of moving into rugby purely to raise a $700,000 salary, just as they’ve done with Suaalii for the past two months.

But the Queenslander insisted that criticism never bothered him.

Sydney Roosters star Joseph-Aukuso Suaalii signed a three-year contract with the Wallabies

Sailor believes Eddie Jones has already made a positive impact on Australian rugby since returning to the Wallabies as head coach in January

“I don’t regret it for a minute,” said Sailor.

‘I played 37 Tests for the Wallabies and have seen the world. I have to play the All Blacks, I have to play South Africa, I have to play France, Italy, Ireland, all those teams.

“You can’t buy that, that’s why I encourage all players to do whatever they feel like because it’s their bodies and their moms and dads that got them through the junior sports systems.”