‘Stuck up’: Storm prop lights fuse in slanging match with Payne Haas

Melbourne prop Stefano Utoikamanu has started the unlikeliest of grand final slanging matches after labelling the Broncos “stuck up” to prompt a kick-off challenge from fellow gentle giant Payne Haas.

Utoikamanu set tongues wagging ahead of Sunday’s decider when he told Melbourne media that he would make his first carry personal against Brisbane’s star-studded pack.

“I’m going to make sure I set up this week to get that first kick of the game – there are going to be a lot of people I want to run at, a lot of people I don’t like on this team,” Utoikamanu said.

“I’m keen to go out there and run someone over.

“I don’t want to name names – there are a lot of people I think are a bit stuck up. I’m pretty keen just to run out and do a job for our team.”

Utoikamanu declined to elaborate on which Broncos he was talking about or who he didn’t like.

Haas was taken aback when told of Utoikamanu’s comments, querying if his typically softly spoken NSW Origin teammate had really taken aim ahead of the biggest game of his career.

The Broncos boast big and polarising personalities in star playmakers Reece Walsh and Ezra Mam, while the club railed against a “rock star″⁣ perception that, rightly or wrongly, came to characterise the end of Kevin Walters’ coaching tenure last season.

“I don’t really care to be honest, they can say what they want,” Haas said in response to Utoikamanu’s barb.

“At the end of the day, we’ll go out there on Sunday, and we’ll see if they’re still going to be throwing [sledges] around.

“They can think what they think, and we can’t change that. If they’ve got a certain image of us down there, well, we’ll see what happens.”

Walsh took umbrage with the well-worn narrative about how Brisbane carry themselves as players and as a club, railing against a perception that has endured one way or another since their inception in 1988.

“There is a lot of talk around the Broncs that we are show ponies and don’t want to work hard,” Walsh said.

“But it is not until you are in these four walls that you see how hard we work and how many sacrifices we make for each other and this club because we all do genuinely care and have so much love for the club.”

Haas played the full 80 minutes in Brisbane’s epic preliminary final against Penrith and carried his team single-handedly at times, finishing bloodied and bruised, but otherwise fine from one of the great front-row performances.

The Broncos received a significant boost on Monday when rising prop Xavier Willison – the tallest player in Sunday’s decider at 199cm – avoided suspension for a cannonball tackle on Penrith’s Luke Garner in his return from a broken arm.

With star No.13 Pat Carrigan returning from his own finals ban, Brisbane have a size and power advantage over Melbourne in the middle, even with Utoikamanu playing arguably the best club game of his career in his last start against Cronulla.

The 25-year-old’s move to Melbourne had coach Craig Bellamy wryly noting Utoikamanu’s adjustment to the professionalism of the Storm afterwards, before the champion coach told reporters that “the last eight to 10 weeks, I don’t think I’ve seen a better front-rower in the competition”.

Whether Bellamy is still as complimentary after his young forward put a target on his back remains to be seen, but Utoikamanu spoke openly as well about assuming the enforcer role typically played by Nelson Asofa-Solomona, who will miss his second-straight grand final through suspension.

Asked about squaring off with Haas as Sunday’s two leading front-rowers, Utoikamanu said: “I’m looking forward to that challenge. He’s one of the best props in the game, if not the best.

“You’ve seen his performance on Sunday. He played in the middle, played 80 minutes, and did just about everything to help that team win, and I’m just looking at what I can do to stop him a little bit and how I can use my game to tire him out a little bit.

“I’m looking forward to that challenge, and I think we can get the win here.”

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