'VO2 max king' Haas returns as teammate defends Broncos' fitness

The Broncos welcome back "VO2 max king" Payne Haas against Penrith and it is the workhorse prop's stamina and commitment the entire side needs to emulate.

Haas, who missed the past two games through suspension, will be joined by winger Corey Oates in the line-up for Thursday night's clash with the table-topping Panthers at Suncorp Stadium.

The 15th placed Broncos lost 58-12 to the Roosters last week where they once again conceded soft tries and fell away in the final quarter of the game, letting in four late four-pointers against the premiers.

Haas has forged a reputation for going as strong in the 80th minute as he was in the first.

Last year in the corresponding game Haas skittled three Panthers forwards and ran around fullback Dylan Edwards in the 74th minute in a 40-metre try for the ages.

Broncos prop Rhys Kennedy spoke about Haas's lung capacity and the team's fitness credentials ahead of the Penrith showdown.

Kennedy has a bachelor of exercise science and is now completing his masters degree at Australian Catholic University, so knows a thing or two about the mechanics of fitness.

"Everyone wants players on their team that can pulls things out of their arse like that," Kennedy said when reminded of Haas's 2019 heroics against Penrith.

"He will certainly bring impact and is good to play off the back of so hopefully he will give us more confidence and go-forward in attack.

"He tops our VO2 max tests in pre-season. Normally it is the lighter guys who have got a higher VO2 max but he is top in all the tests, so he is a specimen absolutely."

Haas has had extraordinary endurance since he was a youth. His schoolboy coach Glen Campbell told NRL.com that at Keebra Park High he would win the 800m and 1200m races against whippets and likened his "massive VO2 max" to a marathon runner or cross-country skier.

There are huge question marks over whether the Broncos team is physically capable of playing 80 minutes in the modern NRL. The proof is in the pudding and for the majority of the past 14 games the side has collapsed in a screaming heap in the final quarter of games.

"I definitely think we are fit enough. It is just about being smarter,” Kennedy said.

"There are no excuses although we are a young team. When you have good leaders and players that have experience around you then they know how to make smarter decisions at the back end of games.

"That is what we lack and what we have been talking about for the last couple of weeks, but it is certainly not a fitness thing.”

The Broncos' goal-line defence has been atrocious all year. Last week Isaac Liu bumped off Joe Ofahengaue with ease while Sitili Tupouniua crashed over twice through feeble attempts.

"A few of those one-on-one decisions on the line are certainly not good enough so we are working on our wrestle a bit more and slowing it down a little bit to give ourselves more time,” Kennedy said.

"To concede 58 points is not good enough and we can’t let that happen for the rest of the season.

“We put ourselves under gruesome conditioning today [at training] and fatigued ourselves. Then we did a lot of defensive drills.

"During the game we are defending for five or 10 minutes where we are going well but when something goes against us we are not able to hang in there and stay tough, so that is what we are working on at the moment."

Kennedy started at prop the last two games after coming off the interchange bench for his previous nine matches this year.

He is off-contract and has a lot to play for in the remaining rounds.

"All I can do is let the footy do the talking. I’ve been in this position before where I got to the end of the season and had nothing so I know how to handle the pressure," Kennedy said.

"I would love to be here still. It is a great club even though we have been under the pump."