NRL Round 3 Review: How the Broncos use Haas across the field, Jayden Campbell, Braydon Trindall & Zac Lomax

The NRL season is in full swing, and outside of the Melbourne Storm, we’re no closer to getting a strong read on any team. The Warriors and Sharks now have more wins than the Panthers following their Las Vegas defeats. Meanwhile, the Wests Tigers have won back-to-back games of footy…

We had upsets, mascot dramas and a player impersonating a referee² in Round 3.

It’s good to have you back, rugby league.

What's to come this week:

• How the Broncos are using Haas in different ways

• Quick Play-the-Balls

  • Takeaways From Storm v Panthers

  • Jayden Campbell Creating Doubt

  • Trindall Making His Mark

• Setting Up For A Shot: Lomax Roaming

• Try Time: Sharks From Long-range

Big Takeaway From the Week: How the Broncos are using Haas in different ways

Tackle one can make or break a set of six. First up here, we’re breaking down what makes for the biggest talking point of the week.

Every so often, a player in the NRL does something that just doesn’t make sense. These guys are the best in the world at what they do, and regardless of their position or experience, each player has something that got them there in the first place.

Payne Haas does something that doesn't make sense every week.

But it’s starting too with the way Michael Maguire and the Brisbane Broncos are using him.

The prop position isn’t typically such a key feature of an attack. Their go-forward is essential. A tip-on pass can help create momentum. However, Haas is in a league of his own when it comes to the influence a prop has on a team’s attack plan.

His actions wider from the ruck have been a talking point already this season. Haas charges at the opposition half which forces the backrower to help his little mate, and the middle defence then has to flip to the other side of the ruck.

While we still saw Haas take a couple of carries out there this week, the Broncos seemed to really target the space in behind the North Queensland Cowboys ruck.

Whenever the third man was late into the line or the marker had made consecutive tackles, Haas made a line for the space between the A defender and marker. It started early and developed further throughout the game.

The defence had taken notice later in the game. Haas is part of every tip sheet in the NRL and is enough on his own to tighten the defence around the ruck. Once that happens, his improving passing game comes to the party.

Kobe Hetherington and Gehamat Shibisaki have fluffed their lines here¹ , but Haas’ work through the middle creates the space.

The Cowboys have been forced to put Sam McIntyre in the centres by this point. He has become a target, and Haas’ passing game through the middle is a promising path towards him. You can see his gravity around the A and B defenders as a ballcarrier before his pass which should put Ben Hunt in position to send Walsh straight at the makeshift centre.

Getting back to what works closer to the line, Haas laid the foundations for his second-half try in the first. There is some indecision around the Cowboys ruck. You can’t see it here, but there is a late defender who doesn’t get involved and ends up plugging down the short side.

Scott Drinkwater is out of the line, leaving the space between the markers, A and B, dangerously wide. Few props in the NRL can so quickly take advantage of the slightest miscue in the line. But Haas is not only quick enough; he seems to have been searching for it from the start.

It all comes together for him to seal the game in the 72nd minute. All the same signs are there.

Reuben Cotter has made multiple tackles in the set. He’s gassed at marker. Jason Taumalolo was involved in an earlier tackle and is late back into the line. I’m not sure on how the Cowboys treat their third man and which side they want them to go, but Haas has taken note of the occasions they’ve flipped to the shortside, leaving him with space behind the ruck.

There isn’t a prop in the game today, and maybe not ever been one, that can score these tries so often.

Haas is the best prop in the game, and the Broncos are doing a fine job of maximising his impact. Whether he’s creating momentum on the edges, generating a quick play-the-ball through the middle or shrinking the defence with his passing game, Haas is having a major role on a Broncos attack that doesn’t look close to reaching its potential just yet.

Quick Play-the-Balls

We’re generating momentum through the middle of the article with a couple of quick carries.

Takeaways From Storm v Panthers

Premium members sipped on their Friday morning coffee with 3 Takeaways from a Game of the Season contender last week.

ICYMI:

• 1. The good & bad of an unsettled opposition

• 2. Yeo steps up

• 3. That scrum try

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Jayden Campbell Creating Doubt

Des Hasler and the Gold Coast Titans had to find a spot for Jayden Campbell somewhere. They’ve put too much into him in the past and still have such high hopes for his future that they couldn’t use him in an inconsistent role for another NRL season.

The move to halfback is a surprise, but it is exciting based on what we’ve seen in 2025.

Like most halfbacks in the NRL, he looks a lot better behind a strong pack. The Titans middle couldn’t do it for him in Round 2, but in Round 3, behind a rampant Tino Fa’asuamleaui, Campbell showed glimpses of a promising future in the #7 jersey.

I’ll have to watch how he organises a game more closely—it’s difficult to get a good read from the close broadcast view. However, his reading of a defensive line presenting cues is more than up to the task.

His drop play here isn’t an accident. He’s moving the defence to put himself one-on-one with the opposition edge backrower.

They’ve either drawn this up, or Beau Fermor already has an excellent understanding of his halfbacks movements, but his fade line to Jack Cogger’s outside shoulder drags the three-man out just far enough for Campbell to burn his defender and fall over the line.

If Campbell can develop a consistent reputation as a run threat³ , he will give himself time to learn the nuances of halfback play.

Trindall Making His Mark

Braydon Trindall setting up Ronaldo Mulitalo to score ended up as my favourite try of Round 2.

He did exactly the same to set up Nicho Hynes on the right side in Round 3.

For all of the ridiculous commentary around the Sharks in the preseason and following their Round 1 defeat, the spine is looking the best it has done in years. Behind a dominant pack, they’re among the premiership contenders already.

Setting Up For A Shot: Lomax Roaming

Teams play to points with the following tackle in mind. Here, I’m touching on something to watch next week as we try to keep ahead of things happening on the field.

The Parramatta Eels are struggling. There haven’t been many positives to take out of the opening three weeks of the NRL season. However, they’re getting everything they can out of Zac Lomax.

Plenty debated his move back into the centres. He became one of the best wingers in the NRL with the St George Illawarra Dragons last season. But by switching between wing and centre, Jason Ryles is getting the best of both worlds.

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