The Broncos have been accused of going away from the strategy that made them a powerhouse in the 1990s and 2000s after reports emerged that the club is preparing to offer Xavier Willison a massive contract upgrade.

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The Courier Mail is reporting that Brisbane is prepared to offer the 24-year-old $4 million over four seasons to stay at the club.

The panel on NRL 360 was stunned that the Broncos would offer Willison Payne Haas-type cash.

"If it was the Wests Tigers offering Willison a million dollars a year, I'd probably understand it, but it's the Brisbane Broncos," journalist Paul Crawley said.

"For generations they've stayed for unders and that's what the Broncos are now, offering this young prop a million dollars.

"It's not Payne Haas. He's won his first Paul Morgan Medal and he's had a good season, but he's not a million-dollar prop."

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Fellow reporter Dave Riccio said the million-dollar figure would be the result of ratchet clauses but still agreed with Crawley's assessment of the deal.

"At the end of the day, unfortunately, this is a reflection of the Broncos. It's where they're at," Riccio said.

In the club's glory days of the 1990s players like Langer, Walters, Webcke and Sailor would take less to stay knowing they could help each other win premierships and they did.

Former Broncos champion Gorden Tallis felt that the club may have been spooked into offering Willison such an eye-watering sum after watching one of their former players star at another club in Round 27.

He was referring to Coby Black, the Broncos junior who was long seen as the club's next boom halfback.

But he fell out of favour under Michael Maguire and Canberra coach Ricky Stuart was more than happy to pick him up and he starred on debut a fortnight ago against the Cowboys.

"They couldn't afford for him (Willison) to leave," Tallis said.

"With Payne Haas going, this guy's the next big star.

"With the way Coby Black played at the Raiders, I think there's a fair bit of pressure on the club to get the next big kill, and he's it."

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Tallis said a million dollars a season is overs now but might not be towards the end of the rumoured four-year deal.

The other issue, NRL 360 host Braith Anasta brought up was how Pat Carrigan, on about $850,000 next season, would feel about a less-credentialed forward earning more than him.

"How's Patty going to feel about this then?" Anasta asked.

"He (Willison) shouldn't be on more than him," Tallis replied.

After winning his first Paul Morgan Medal as the Broncos player of the year, Willison said in his speech that he wanted to remain at the club.

"My daughter was born in Brisbane so I would love to stay here and bring my family up here in Brisbane," he said.

There were reports recently that Willison might be keen to follow Haas to Souths but he put them to bed, even if Crawley was sceptical.

"You take it all with a grain of salt because a week before Payne Haas left to go to South Sydney, all the reports were that he was staying and he was ready to agree to a new deal," Crawley said.