Kalyn Ponga discussion

HarVeeGee13 said:
One thing that's been so impressive to me is - and we can pretend otherwise, but I'm sure it's a thing - is that last year he won the wooden spoon and the guy who's his biggest rival, the guy he has to compete with for that Queensland #1 jersey, won a premiership and a Clive Churchill Medal with what can only be described as some of the most absurd heroball I've ever seen. Reece Walsh 2025 grand final is the best game of footy I've ever seen a single player have.

Kalyn's always been a great highlight reel player and I'm sure if he wanted to chase the footy around and try to get as many try assists as he could, I'm sure he could. And there would be some temptation to try to go out there and snatch the "best individual player in the game" belt.

Instead, he's improved out of sight at everything *except* his own individual attack. This is the fewest wild cut out passes he's thrown in a season, the fewest early set speculative short kicks. The most he's done to just get teammates into good positions and let them shine. The most he's gotten around his teammates and pushed them to be better. The smartest footy he's played. His contribution is transcending his own individual brilliance.

True coming of age.
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This is why I dont get people saying he had a quiet game in the rabbitos game. Same with alot of this year, he is definitely playing the team game vs the "gotta get the ball to ponga or the Knights have nothing" that we have heard for a fair few years.

This comes down to the coach and the great recruiting too. So many more weapons in our team now.
 
Treadly said:
This is why I dont get people saying he had a quiet game in the rabbitos game. Same with alot of this year, he is definitely playing the team game vs the "gotta get the ball to ponga or the Knights have nothing" that we have heard for a fair few years.

This comes down to the coach and the great recruiting too. So many more weapons in our team now.
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Anyone who said he had a quiet game against the Rabbitohs wasn't watching. I think they expect a lot of obvious individual brilliance, but ignore the fact he had a touch in both our tries through the hands, and that's never a coincidence.
 
Come a long way since strawberry milkshake. I think the way he committed to the club earlier in the year, with absolutely no media leaks from within was an indication of his growth, commitment to club and unity within this group.

Many on here, myself included doubted he was the right choice as captain but watching his development as a leader this year has removed any doubt - he is the guy.

The 19 year old wonder kid we banked it all on at our clubs lowest point has now not only changed the club with his individual brilliance but is two wins away from leading us to the ultimate.

The greatest signing in our history and hopefully, within only a few weeks, is our next premiership captain. Kudos KP.
 
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He hasn’t always been what I’d call a great leader, perhaps personality, perhaps coaching, perhaps lack of buy-in from others.

There’s a few stories that get around about the “partying” times and share houses. Occassionally gets referenced in a few pods I’ve listened to over the years. I guess in that era when he wanted to be a plumber - helping Mann sort out the plumbing issues of the bathroom. And his diet not the best with Strawberry milkshakes.

He was young. He learned a lot from those moments.

Now, he organises the golf days as a means for the squad to bond. A much better alternative to partying and drinking culture some clubs have at points.

He’s always been a breathtakingly good player. There’s been times he overplays his hand, or couldn’t get into games.

The last few years - he’s noticeably changed. I think the previous 2 seasons - he’s taken on a lot of responsibility to perform well and try and lift us up - perhaps hamstrung by personnel and coaching tactics.

But this year the shift has monumental. He looked locked in from the start. I attribute a bit of this to Holbrook, a bit to Brown, but he deserves a lot of the credit for the way this team has performed and come together and how he has performed as a captain and our marquee man.

Yesterday, he was as animated, as pumped as I’ve ever seen him. His emotion at the end of last week, and then again as Smith tore away up field - incredible to see. His hit on Leota - he says Leota slipped a little, but he still hit him with all he could in the dying moments. He celebrated the defensive resilience like a try. He provided the energy when they had absolutely every reason to have nothing left in the tank. Inspiring stuff.

He has grown up an awful lot over the years and you can see how much he lifts his teammates. I can’t wait to see him skateboarding down Memorial Drive.
 
I was personally critical of Ponga purely as a captain occasionally because i thought he was too aloof at times but boy was i wrong. Holbrook came in, identified immediately the type of man and leader he is and let him lead that way. Holbrooks influence on the players happiness and belief is incredible.

Without taking shots at his predecessor you can see when he walked in his first job was to release the shackles and be friends with the players first and foremost. The hard work, accountability and respect would naturally come from that.

I forgot Ponga was in his mid 20's as a captain, and if i reflect on myself that's when i went through the most growth and maturity as a man.
 
He's a rare, rare sort of bloke. Guys like him, the real prodigies, the ones where everything came to them super easy - there are more examples of those guys never hitting their ceiling as a player, or getting there but not being able to do it consistently, or being *very good* but just not as good as the real top tier of player, than there are of guys who live up to the hype. For every Darren Lockyer there's a Todd Carney, Ash Taylor, Arana Taumata, Karl Filiga, etc.

We were hearing about Kalyn Ponga when he was only 15 years old. Throwing all that money at a kid before he's proved anything like we did, it's trying to shoot the moon. It rarely works but we had to do something.

He honestly, sincerely, did not face real adversity as an NRL player until he was already a consensus top 5 player in the sport or at least close to it. Most guys like him, let's be honest most normal people, probably just sort of turn it up. Maybe not give up, but just become happy to collect the paycheque. But he's found stuff inside himself that's just there, I guess. Didn't have to dig it out of the mud.
 
I know his shot on Leota will rightly get all the praise defensively but can I just say it’s been noticeable all year but particularly since the 12 man game against the Wahs, just how hard KP works defensively.

He is moving non-stop in that defensive line plugging holes every time they appear. It was the same again yesterday and a big part of the reason they never looked outnumbered.

He doesn’t get many wraps for his defence because sometimes his tackling technique can be almost comical but I think a lot of that has to do with fear from all the head knocks (understandably)

Before that he was never scared in defence (eg Origin debut) but I’ve noticed now when he has too long to think about it, that’s when he mucks up.

However, when’s he just reacting and tackling on instinct without time to think, he’s been great. Even coming up with a number of try savers in recent weeks too
 
He's also pretty clearly at this point one of the best fullbacks in the game at organising the line generally. There's a huge difference when he's not there.
 
If he can have a quick recovery, he may be able to come back just after Crossland rejoins. They can finish out the world cup together best case scenario. Hopefully it doesn't affect his combination training.
 
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