Kalyn Ponga discussion

As far as I can see, KP's decision strengthens international RL without significantly impacting the Australian team. It's great news all round. Now he should go to Rugby in 2028 and nominate for the Wallabies to do the reverse Brad Thorn.
 
Seano said:
As far as I can see, KP's decision strengthens international RL without significantly impacting the Australian team. It's great news all round. Now he should go to Rugby in 2028 and nominate for the Wallabies to do the reverse Brad Thorn.
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My point is it takes the tribalism out of it, atleast that's how I and most Aussies feel about it.

Like I said though not fussed either way.
 
Yeah I'm off the opinion that if you play origin you play for Australia and to take the money side out of it we have a break for a month in the middle of the year and have 3 games of Qld vs NSW and 3 games Tonga vs Samoa ,NZ vs England, and fiji vs PNG pay those guys the same money as origin players so the international game gets stronger because there play more games creating great rivalries to match origin. I feel that the new rules are only going to hurt origin in the long run
 
Thoughts on this, if we win a premiership with Kayln in our team and as our captain, because of how popular he is would that put him right up with the likes of Joey around Newcastle? Obviously Joey is the Goat but Ponga is another player that is just beyond so many others when it comes to raw talent.
Would we name a stand after him or a cup level after him?
 
Did none of you go to school with children of immigrants? One of my best mates is an Indian dude I met on the first day of high school when I was 12 years old, and always to me he's clearly been Australian and Indian, both. Loves soccer and cricket. Cheers harder than anyone else I know for the Socceroos, but for India in the cricket, and if he had any talent at cricket instead of being even more crap than me, he would want to play for India. Guess these kinds of things can be heavily influenced by your own background but this is just one example of what I grew up with, these split allegiances seem very natural to me. English or Chinese kids who cheer for the Knights and NSW in the footy but the country of their heritage, of their family in mostly everything else. To me, this is just a standard feature of Australian life lol. We are a rich melting pot.

Don't see how Kalyn's decision takes tribalism out of anything. He's a proud Maori man who's clearly always wanted to play for New Zealand, who's also been the best player in an Origin decider - that Maroon jersey means something to him. I don't see any contradiction between those things.
 
Mclovin said:
Thoughts on this, if we win a premiership with Kayln in our team and as our captain, because of how popular he is would that put him right up with the likes of Joey around Newcastle? Obviously Joey is the Goat but Ponga is another player that is just beyond so many others when it comes to raw talent.
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No one would rank him any lower than second best player in our club's history and yeah he'd be creeping close to 1B to Joey's 1A if he's a Dally M & Clive Churchill winner.

At the moment our second best player ever is either Bedsy, Chief or Ken Bennedy, depending on your preference.
 
HarVeeGee13 said:
he'd be creeping close to 1B to Joey's 1A if he's a Dally M & Clive Churchill winner.
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Win two premierships, then maybe he's sneaking into 1B.
Joey being on the field was the difference between running last (or close to it) and maybe winning the comp for 10 years. KP has nowhere near that resume, not even close. We've won one (1) finals game in his time at the club.
 
HarVeeGee13 said:
Did none of you go to school with children of immigrants? One of my best mates is an Indian dude I met on the first day of high school when I was 12 years old, and always to me he's clearly been Australian and Indian, both. Loves soccer and cricket. Cheers harder than anyone else I know for the Socceroos, but for India in the cricket, and if he had any talent at cricket instead of being even more crap than me, he would want to play for India. Guess these kinds of things can be heavily influenced by your own background but this is just one example of what I grew up with, these split allegiances seem very natural to me. English or Chinese kids who cheer for the Knights and NSW in the footy but the country of their heritage, of their family in mostly everything else. To me, this is just a standard feature of Australian life lol. We are a rich melting pot.

Don't see how Kalyn's decision takes tribalism out of anything. He's a proud Maori man who's clearly always wanted to play for New Zealand, who's also been the best player in an Origin decider - that Maroon jersey means something to him. I don't see any contradiction between those things.
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It doesn't at the moment but in 15 years time when we only have 5 or 6 players actually playing for Australia and the rest all international players I think it does potentially as some might just do it for the money
 
slotmachine said:
Win two premierships, then maybe he's sneaking into 1B.
Joey being on the field was the difference between running last (or close to it) and maybe winning the comp for 10 years. KP has nowhere near that resume, not even close. We've won one (1) finals game in his time at the club.
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We also ran last the 3 seasons in the lead up to getting Kalyn, and last year when we ran last it was due to a losing streak with him being one of the players out for that period.

I'd also gently suggest that Bedsy, Robbie O, Matty Johns, Kurt Gidley, etc, are all a much better calibre of spine player than any Kalyn has had to play with besides Mitchell Pearce, until this season.

I know we went to **** when Joey got hurt all the time but I think "difference between running last and winning the comp" over eggs it. The one season he was out all year and the team had a chance to adjust to it, as opposed to him missing 4-10 games as was more common, we ran 10th and Bedsy won the Dally M. It's not great but it's not last. He wasn't playing with bums.

I'm also hitting you with a hypothetical where Kalyn's finals wins obviously go up a fair bit...
 
Don’t think the Joey missing takes us from contender to spoon is overstated. In 2004 we beat the defending premiers away and Melbourne in Melbourne with him pre ACL. Safe to say we lose both of those games without him and run 2nd last.

Even with the class he had alongside him at times the difference with and without him was insane. Like lose by 40 one week without him and then he’s back the next and we win by 40. No player in history has had close to the impact on a teams results than he did.
 
HarVeeGee13 said:
Did none of you go to school with children of immigrants? One of my best mates is an Indian dude I met on the first day of high school when I was 12 years old, and always to me he's clearly been Australian and Indian, both. Loves soccer and cricket. Cheers harder than anyone else I know for the Socceroos, but for India in the cricket, and if he had any talent at cricket instead of being even more crap than me, he would want to play for India. Guess these kinds of things can be heavily influenced by your own background but this is just one example of what I grew up with, these split allegiances seem very natural to me. English or Chinese kids who cheer for the Knights and NSW in the footy but the country of their heritage, of their family in mostly everything else. To me, this is just a standard feature of Australian life lol. We are a rich melting pot.

Don't see how Kalyn's decision takes tribalism out of anything. He's a proud Maori man who's clearly always wanted to play for New Zealand, who's also been the best player in an Origin decider - that Maroon jersey means something to him. I don't see any contradiction between those things.
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Sometimes I wonder when I read comments on social media, etc from Australia … you guys do have a lot of immigration and different ethnicities in your society, but it doesn’t really feel like it from what I read.
 
mozza said:
Don’t think the Joey missing takes us from contender to spoon is overstated. In 2004 we beat the defending premiers away and Melbourne in Melbourne with him pre ACL. Safe to say we lose both of those games without him and run 2nd last.

Even with the class he had alongside him at times the difference with and without him was insane. Like lose by 40 one week without him and then he’s back the next and we win by 40. No player in history has had close to the impact on a teams results than he did.
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Yeah and 2004 was with Bedsy having an ATG season … which as you say, take Joey out, still took us to second last.

I have no doubt had Joey not done that ACL, we would have been challenging for the title in 2004. We looked fantastic in those opening two games.
 
jamesgould said:
Yeah and 2004 was with Bedsy having an ATG season … which as you say, take Joey out, still took us to second last.

I have no doubt had Joey not done that ACL, we would have been challenging for the title in 2004. We looked fantastic in those opening two games.
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Absolutely. I remember him saying in his book how fit and ready he was for that year. We had the team around him with Bedsy in his prime, BK, Tahu and Robbie O playing their last seasons with us and Kurt Gidley emerging to contend.
 
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