Kalyn Ponga discussion

Billy said:
In the very old days they used to play halfbacks as a 'second line' of defence. Basically they'd stay 10 metres behind the defensive line and try to read where line breaks were going to happen and try to tackle anyone who made a line break from the side or behind.
Stops you having a weak defender in the line for forwards to run at and gives you some cover defence other than just the fullback.
I'm sure there's a reason they stopped doing that in the days of Peter Sterling and Steve Mortimer, but it seemed to work in those days.
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Sterlo (and his look-a-like Paul 'Squizzy' Taylor) were both capable of tackling in the front line of defence and Taylor was capable of racking up 40 or 50 tackles in a game, when he played in the line...but he did also play fullback for a period of time at Parramatta. Turvey was definitely your more classic cover defending half
 
A Johns has said kp should move to fullback to gain confidence.

Important considering he is halves coach here.
 
Kurriboy said:
A Johns has said kp should move to fullback to gain confidence.

Important considering he is halves coach here.
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Think A Johns has lost the plot, wasn't he the one pushing for the move to 6 at the start of the year.

The club is royally screwed with the dollars Ponga is on, he won't be dropped and they will screw then entire team over to fit him somewhere.
 
I hate media people having jobs with clubs and vice versa. Best case scenario if it’s happening at a club you’re a fan of (and the worst for everyone else), is the Gus Gould situation, where he uses his platform to advance his club’s interests at every turn. Clear conflict of interest. The worst case scenario (but the best for the broader NRL peanut gallery) is Joey, who is so desperate to seem unbiased that he borderline publicly undermines our club.

Why can’t he just say “I work for the club, I really can’t comment on this”?
 
Bennett reportedly told Ponga some home truths in the off-season and he didn’t sign with the Dolphins because of it.

He has been living off of a silver spoon his whole life and been gassed up by none other than Andrew Johns since he debuted. Clear as day he has been costing through with it all gone to his head.

If he knuckles down there’s no doubting his talent. He easily has the best in the world potential but has repeatedly not shown the drive to reach those levels.
 
Billy said:
In the very old days they used to play halfbacks as a 'second line' of defence. Basically they'd stay 10 metres behind the defensive line and try to read where line breaks were going to happen and try to tackle anyone who made a line break from the side or behind.
Stops you having a weak defender in the line for forwards to run at and gives you some cover defence other than just the fullback.
I'm sure there's a reason they stopped doing that in the days of Peter Sterling and Steve Mortimer, but it seemed to work in those days.
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Yeah usually the halves were in the second line of defence, back then it was 5 metre ruck rule, you could hide little guys in the second defence line the big forwards couldn't get as much momentum with the defence only back 5 but Mortimer was fantastic cover defender
 
I remember Phil Gould had Joey defending in the second line in an origin series. Would have been 2002 or 2003. Him and Minichiello where back there to clean up any breaks and organise the defensive line.
 
cowboyman said:
Bennett reportedly told Ponga some home truths in the off-season and he didn’t sign with the Dolphins because of it.
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That’s one view of what was reported. You could also argue Bennett knocked the club and Ponga stood up for us and resigned with us. In the Dolphins documentary they don’t show any of the meeting but they show immediately after where Bennett says he had him fired up and he was quite impressed by Ponga.
 
One swallow does not make a summer, but today we saw us simply get the ball to KP in good positions for him to exploit with individual brilliance, AND the expansive ball movement from sideline to sideline with which we carved up Canberra, Manly and NZ earlier in the season. I thought we got the balance right for the first time with KP in the team. The result is the most points we’ve scored in a game in 10 years.

Hopefully they can back it up next week.
 
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It looks like there’s a definite plan to keep his running game under wraps for the first 60 mins or so then, when the defenders are getting fatigued, let him loose! if he hadn’t have been taken off for a bogus HIA in the first Warriors game I think he would have got us home then too.
 
HarVeeGee13 said:
One swallow does not make a summer, but today we saw us simply get the ball to KP in good positions for him to exploit with individual brilliance, AND the expansive ball movement from sideline to sideline with which we carved up Canberra, Manly and NZ earlier in the season. I thought we got the balance right for the first time with KP in the team. The result is the most points we’ve scored in a game in 10 years.

Hopefully they can back it up next week.
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Gamble is the key I believe to allow Ponga play his natural running game....when he came on the team settled and got into their rhythm, and off course Ponga let rip.
 
Game was about what I expected from KP defensively, titans didn't throw much at him in particular, most of their attack came down the opposite side of the field. His attacking game will give him a lot of confidence, looked to be growing during the game actually. I expect the Sharks will give him a Mitch Moses type going over next weekend, we'll see where he's at after that.
 
The media just taken Ponga form and put pressure on him and the club to have instant success.(media not always be our friends)
He not only has changed his position full time now but also bad timing from head injuries doesn't help.
Hopefully more games this year he get more confidence and just keep improving.
So many teams this year are trying to string consecutive wins and hoping their halves click
 
JOJO82 said:
Gamble is the key I believe to allow Ponga play his natural running game....when he came on the team settled and got into their rhythm, and off course Ponga let rip.
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I thought he got into pretty standard ball playing positions for a lock. Elliott has that in his game too, just doesn’t look like he has his legs under him yet.
 
Ak-47 said:
The media just taken Ponga form and put pressure on him and the club to have instant success.(media not always be our friends)
He not only has changed his position full time now but also bad timing from head injuries doesn't help.
Hopefully more games this year he get more confidence and just keep improving.
So many teams this year are trying to string consecutive wins and hoping their halves click
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This was always going to be on from the media. Last time under Brown they gave it 2 games then started their criticising.

This time it was always going to be a topic if it isnt instantly a success.

Just a slight comment on Crossland at 9. There was a moment where he could have got Ponga in a 2 on 2 situation with plenty of space but held the ball and took the tackle instead.

ID like to see Gamble at lock as first receiver and play off the back of that.
 
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