I just worry so much about us making the same mistake yet again. Years of only intermittently getting the best out of Ponga due to not ever putting the right stuff around him.
As much as I bag Nathan Brown, he absolutely had it right the first time given the roster he had. You want to park true halves on Kalyn's inside who can manipulate the defensive line and bring him onto the ball in good positions. The way he set up in 2018, with Pearce playing through the middle third and Ponga & Watson posting up on opposite edges outside him - this is essentially what we ended up landing on when the attack showed signs of life this season, finally (I'm not counting easy W's vs decimated Bunnies/Panthers lineups, talking the wins vs Manly, Dolphins), with Ponga left, Sharpe right, Cogger/Crossland working through the middle third. Ponga and Watson seemed to have amazing chemistry as friends, but on a footy field you did not want one trying to facilitate the other. Similarly, separating Ponga and Sharpe seemed to help both.
Since that first year where he almost won the Dally M in a mediocre team just basically hammering that left edge, the same patterns have repeated over and over with us again: play him outside true halves who can help him work to his preferred looks, he looks like the single most dangerous player in the game. Play him outside utilities with limited ball playing ability, you get something which looks really clunky and awkward. Even outside very bleh halves like Cogger and Crossland, if they effectively compress the line and bring him onto the ball with wide man-on-man opportunities, he can just make **** happen.
Just don't see a recipe for the attack functioning next year without putting Brown in that on-ball roll Pearce & Hastings played, which is not his natural game - he excels as a running half playing down certain channels on one side of the field & bringing his outside men onto the ball. Which sounds like it could be incredibly dynamic, him and Ponga - I maintain that Brown is a very, very good NRL half - but you need another actual half to make that sort of split halves set up work. Where would we find something like that though? With so much money invested in the spine already, no less?
Well, Sandon being apparently gettable for like $450K if you just tell him he'll play in the halves... there it is, the golden ticket to bail us out of a really questionable situation which could end in calamity before it happens, if you ask me. The dude can play. He doesn't have the big boot we crave but otherwise he's good at the exact stuff you'd want a guy facilitating Brown & Ponga to be good at, but he's not just a totally unthreatening role player and facilitator, he's a dangerous runner, he has a step, he's shown flashes of very impressive skill in ad-lib situations. $450K for a half who's performed well in the NRL, who's 22 and still has scope to grow, is great value in any context even before you factor in the specific need we have. He is the best half available to talk to right now, the best half available for 2027 besides Metcalf (who'll surely be extended soon), and if you see a half available for 2028 who you think won't have already been re-signed by then, please name them.
