Kalyn Ponga discussion

Very much looking ahead here, but is the Penrith game @ Mac Jones the game Ponga comes back?
Jeez that’d be unreal if we’re in form.
 
Honestly I’d be having him take the full 8 weeks. The last thing you’d want is for him coming back a week early only to miss more games. Touch wood we win a few more games in the meantime and there won’t be the pressure to rush him back in
 
Yeah I’m not a physio but my understanding is that hamstring stuff is right up there in terms of likelihood of re-aggravation or turning into something worse.

Brown should be sweet to come back in round 7 at the latest, so at the very worst we’ll roll into that game 3-3 with a spine of Fletcher Sharpe, Sandon Smith, Dylan Brown, Phoenix Crossland and maybe a bit of Harrison Graham. Which is still honestly really good. And I back us to pick up one of the next two at least with how we’ve been playing, so we may be doing even better than that.

There’s no reason to be desperate to rush Kalyn back if those other guys are fit.
 
Hope he can come back early.
 

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Apprently knights are putting talks on hold for contract saying he needs to prove his worth essentially.
Fox have also changed there tune saying he has been linked to the rooster ms but his preference is to stay at Newcastle
 
Roosters will sign him for $1.1m because 'KP wanted to win a premiership'

I don't really understand letting KP go. With him, we can win a comp next year, they year after that and the year after that. Without him we'd need to find something else to be able to compete with the likes of Penrith, Broncos and the Roosters (assuming they sign KP). And its not obvious what that is or where we would find it. But we have it while we have KP.
 
1.5-1.6 per playing season maybe. Considering he has only hit 20 games per season, never a full season.

Four out of the last 5 seasons have been half to 2/3 of games. So pay him 1mil per season and if he plays a whole season he is paying us back for the 60 odd missed games over 8 years!

He is a legendary player, but useless on the bench for 1/3 - 1/2 a season
 
exactly that was my take on KP, he needs to lower his wage if what he has always said is true, we haven’t been getting bang for buck on him, he has been on extremely good money for a while, they turned around and made him captain, it’s time he does the leadership role and take a pay cut for the betterment of the team in the short and long term.
 
Dreaming if you think KP is going to take a pay cut.

KP is a dynamic player, elite. But we have to look at what we get out of him for the salary cap impact.

If KP goes, we move Sharpe to fullback and it could be argued we don't lose much overall.

That frees up a bunch of money we could then throw at an elite 7, move Brown to 6. Or someone like a Payne Haas to give us that X factor still.

I understand Elite 7's are not just hanging around waiting to be signed, nor is Haas etc. Just spit balling.

We could lose KP, not sign that Elite player to replace him and be left with No KP, and having to spend the salary cap so signing slightly better players than we have now and paying overs to ensure we spend the salary cap.
 
Sharpe is a freak, but Ponga gives us a chance to go for it in the next 2 or so seasons. He’s genuinely the best FB in the comp when he’s fit and firing.

This combo of Ponga and Brown could be something special, I think he knows that and if we have a great season, I think he will definitely want to stay. Even if it means a “slight” paycut”. If his biggest goal is to win a comp, which I believe. There’s only a few teams where he can go to and be a significantly greater chance to win a comp than us.
 
So. Plenty of media outlets starting to throw the KP off contract story in with how we’re playing without him, “do we need him” etc.

He has 1/1/2years left and I think we are suddenly in a mini premiership window. If form holds could miraculously give it a nudge this year. (Long way to go).

I’d love to resign him, 2 more years giving us a few more seasons of Brown and KP together. If he does though, I’d want to see him ratchet his contract down a couple hundred thousand each year. Clearly did same thing on his last contract, allowing 200k a season for juniors in the cap.

I’d love to have him a little longer at the teams prime, the Sharpe and Winter, Seve will be ready and running.


**** Just seen this thread had started in here as I had posted this in recruitment retention thread***
 
Fux definitely changed their tune last night, which I found amusing. Even Braith seemed to think the Brown signing is paying off. (I don’t know if it’s a good thing Braith agrees with us)

As a club, I think we have come along way in the last few years, particularly this season, though a smaller sample size. Our spine has depth, and quality depth. Hunt may not be a polished finished product, but he’s miles better than most other club’s 3rd choice FB. I don’t think we are as desperate as we have been previously.

Our comments on holding off, tell me we are doing some serious forward planning in regards to recruitment and retention and promotion.

(For anyone that’s interested, I think it was The Bye Round that did a podcast with Panthers CEO where he spoke about how they manage the cap and decisions around the squad. It was really fascinating. There’s been some comments come out that he regrets giving so much away and probably said too much.)

Ponga Pros:
- game changer. He can absolutely turn it on, and be the games best on his day.
- His connections with Brown on and off the field are looking great.
- He’s definitely that luxury X factor type of a player a club needs to win a premiership. He’s more than capable of doing what Walsh did last year, (start the season poorly…) string a bunch of games together where he takes control, takes it personally and carries the team to victory. But the squad we have around him now, means he doesn’t need to do all the heavy lifting.

Kalyn Cons:
- injury. Biggest thing for me. Injuries are part of the game. Unavoidable. But his record isn’t great. Chances are he plays 15 or 20 games a season. Is that the output you expect from 1.5M?
- And price. For the right price, no brainer. But if he’s gonna be commanding a new competition record salary, I’m not sure it’s worth the players we could lose.


Verdict - I’d be happy to re sign him for the right price. I think the club are planning the roster long term, which is nice to see, a potentially putting some emphasis on the bones of the future team - Brown, McEwen, Lucas, Sharpe etc. and seeing if we can facilitate a big money luxury. My hope, and this is potentially unfair to expect from players who have limited time to make their money, is that he would want to repay some of the faith we have shown in him. We have paid him very well. Has he lived up to his side of the contract?


Curious how many years he would want. My guess, he’d be pushing for a 5 year deal.

Just clarifying (I had typed up a proposal for a 1 year extension, with some clauses/options, but think I miscalculated PNG negotiations), PNG enter conversations on November 1, right?
 
Les Misérables said:
Roosters will sign him for $1.1m because 'KP wanted to win a premiership'

I don't really understand letting KP go. With him, we can win a comp next year, they year after that and the year after that. Without him we'd need to find something else to be able to compete with the likes of Penrith, Broncos and the Roosters (assuming they sign KP). And its not obvious what that is or where we would find it. But we have it while we have KP.
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It's not about "letting him go", for me. You don't push a talent like him out the door.

But, I don't think we should sign him to another deal which ties us to him for another 5 years. The "something else" you're talking about, what that could potentially be is some of the young players coming through developing into superstars. If Cody Hopwood develops into the elite prop the club is hoping for, he becomes a bigger priority than Kalyn, for example. That could be something that looks to be very clearly on the cards from 2028... or he could take longer and hit his straps in 2029, or 2030... you don't know. It's hard to predict.

I also think that even if you're of the view Fletcher Sharpe can become an elite 6 rather than just a great footy player who happens to wear #6, it's still, to a pretty fair degree, nerfing him as a player, individually. He could become great there, sure. He'd never be as good there as he would be at fullback. He's still very young and happy to play wherever, but I sincerely think if he plays fullback he would play minimum 10 games for the Blues, he'd play for the Kangaroos maybe. If he's at 6 he's giving that stuff up, in my opinion. That's not a problem for right now but I think it's something we have to consider at some point.
 
I like the idea of the club holding out at the moment. What’s the rush. I think it also in his interest to see how far we go this year. Give it till close to the end of this year. If we are killing it and making top 4 with Ponga actually playing, then make the offer, and hope he is willing to play for slight unders.
 
Fletcher is the ace in deck. They will think we have a good side. His money will go to upgrading some players internally and buying what we need.

If KP goes we will have a spine of Brown, Sandon, Fletch and Crossland. 9 we are well placed with what we have.

Someone mentioned we buy and elite half, but I rate Sandon. He’s only young, 50 games in and is showing great signs of a quality half that can create heaps of opportunities.
 
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