Kalyn Ponga discussion

OnTilt said:
More fitting if it was 3 heads, would explain why he ends up running around in circles.
Click to expand...
This would make you run around in circles too. Maybe we have solved the mystery. It's Mann's heritage.
1662531825129.png
 
How many of you are on the Ponga to 6 bandwagon? I'm still in the he should stay at full-back. But I understand the argument of it's easier to get another full-back then find a good half-back.

So there's the talk of Ruben Garrick.
We have
Bailey Hodgson
Beven French

There no one else I would consider.
 
If we sign Brooks as is heavily, heavily rumoured and allegedly the club’s preference, leaving KP at 1 and playing Gamble at 6 would be the best option.

It’s not what we’d all want but Gamble goes better playing on the right in attack and defence & Brooks has played on the left his entire career, which is atypical for a halfback.

The English kid Pryce is also a bit anomalous, a right side-dominant running 6, who could potentially make that jersey his from 2024.

Ponga is notoriously a better player on the left. I’m not sure Brooks and KP would combine well as a halves partnership.

I think you could get a bit of joy in attack setting up for different variations of wide and narrow short side shapes on the left side with Brooks/KP - but if those two are the halves, and you have a fullback like Garrick or French lining up as the main ball player on the right, it maybe makes it a bit too obvious where you’re about to go. Whereas Gamble/Pryce at 6 on the right preserves the threat of KP wrapping around to the open side to provide the extra man.

Judging by the way we’ve played this year, AOB wants to get away from a reliance on a ball dominant 7 i.e. Pearce and split the field - from a recruitment point of view, it tends to be easier to find halves who prefer playing one side than ones who want to chase the ruck around the field and touch the ball 75 times per game.
 
AOB was on Toohey's podcast today and apparently said Ponga to 6 is likely happening. Not going to put myself through listening to him speak so it's possible the quote has been misrepresented.
 
It’s not a misrepresentation. They’ve been training him there over the last 6 weeks and like what they see. They’ll make their decision before he returns for pre-season training on Nov 14. You’d imagine that’s because they’ll know by which time what kind of a shot they are at bringing in a replacement at 1.
 
HarVeeGee13 said:
It’s not a misrepresentation. They’ve been training him there over the last 6 weeks and like what they see. They’ll make their decision before he returns for pre-season training on Nov 14. You’d imagine that’s because they’ll know by which time what kind of a shot they are at bringing in a replacement at 1.
Click to expand...
There's a lot of mix messages going around.. we are only looking at garrick if we can't sign a half, but Ponga is a very good chance at moving to 6?
 
HarVeeGee13 said:
It’s not a misrepresentation. They’ve been training him there over the last 6 weeks and like what they see. They’ll make their decision before he returns for pre-season training on Nov 14. You’d imagine that’s because they’ll know by which time what kind of a shot they are at bringing in a replacement at 1.
Click to expand...
You'd have to assume that if they are trying to land Garrick, the move is pretty well decided.

Everybody has acknowledged that NRL capable halves are as rare as rocking horse $h!t and we have a player who would be capable of being developed into a top tier 6 that we already have locked in for the longer term.

We also know that serviceable fullbacks are not as scarce and we have one from just down the road that seems to be coming on the market, at what will likely be reasonable coin, is also an accomplished goa kicker and is interested in coming here.

The reality is, we all know our current playing roster is unbalanced, has some serious flaws and this seems like a cost effective way to strengthen our spine in both positions - Ponga is an upgrade on any of our current halves and Garrick will be able to concentrate on fullback and won't need to try and fill 2 different roles in attack and defence like they have tried to stretch Ponga into...which means he can possibly be a better over all player than Ponga was purely in his fullback role.

I know this doesn't address some of the other imbalances we have in our playing roster but I think it does offer part of the longer term solution to getting a more balanced team that could be functionally competitive at an NRL level, particularly based on what we know is realistically available on the player market over the next 12 months or so.
 
Must have got them thinking that in games where Kalyn played a lot closer to the ball, his lead-up work creating easy opportunities for others (think: Kalyn as the halfback in scrum plays) looked a lot more effective than other players doing the lead up work to get Kalyn good ball.

That’s one of the big conundrums with the attack this year - teams know they can shut us down if they zero in on KP when we shift the ball, so he moves into more halves-like positions where opposition can’t fly in on him… but then you don’t have anyone playing as a fullback anymore.

So it’s:

- Find a good organising half who can create space for Kalyn, and/or;
- Find another attacking threat at 6/7 who will draw his own share of attention, OR;
- Simply move KP into the halves and pick up a guy who has it in him to be a good first grade fullback but who’s stuck behind another guy - a much easier think to find than a half in that position.

Easy to see why moving KP seems simplest.
 
OnTilt said:
There's a lot of mix messages going around.. we are only looking at garrick if we can't sign a half, but Ponga is a very good chance at moving to 6?
Click to expand...

That’s just what Toohey said he reckoned was the case.

Kind of sounds like they’re thinking of moving him and then figuring out the rest later.
 
O'Brien seemed to be saying Kalyn would have to build up and change his training focus to play 5/8 and said he would know before pre-season starts if we are going down that route.
That says to me that we are still after a half, but if we don't get one, it's Kalyn.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top