LIVE: Glamour club confirms interest in Broncos star

As clubs begin to circle for Payne Haas, who will go to market on November 1, the Storm have emerged as a party with significant interest in the prop.

Reports emerged this week that Melbourne had met with Haas’ management but coach Craig Bellamy said it wasn’t as serious as that ahead of his side’s clash with Penrith.

“I was asked yesterday if we’d be interested in Payne Haas, I know if you asked 17 coaches they’d all say they’re interested in Payne Haas,” he said.

“We’d love to have him at our club but at the end of the day whether we can afford him or whether he wants to come (is the question).

“He’s at a pretty strong club at the moment … that’s about where it is, sounds like it’s been blown up a bit.”

Haas famously was almost on his way to Melbourne as a teenager before a call with Wayne Bennett convinced him to stay in Brisbane.

Bellamy couldn’t recall the exact details of that crossroads but confirmed the club would be “very interested” if the opportunity presented itself again.

“He’s at a club he started his career at so I think he’d be pretty hard to get out but like I say we’d be very interested if we could find a way to do it,” he said.

On SEN Afternoons, Melbourne’s general manager Frank Ponissi was able to shed more light on the story.

“It was 2016 I think, we thought we had a really good chance, but it was the move away from the Gold Coast and the family home was just too big of a decision to make,” he said.

“I suppose that’s where the connection comes from… he’s the type of player that lots of clubs put their hand (for), the story did surprise us to in terms of how strong the interest was.

“It was certainly an expression of interest at best, at this stage.”