Kalyn Ponga discussion

[danknights]

If we sign Brooks as is heavily, heavily rumoured and allegedly the club’s preference, leaving KP at 1 and playing Gamble at 6 would be the best option.

It’s not what we’d all want but Gamble goes better playing on the right in attack and defence & Brooks has played on the left his entire career, which is atypical for a halfback.

The English kid Pryce is also a bit anomalous, a right side-dominant running 6, who could potentially make that jersey his from 2024.

Ponga is notoriously a better player on the left. I’m not sure Brooks and KP would combine well as a halves partnership.

I think you could get a bit of joy in attack setting up for different variations of wide and narrow short side shapes on the left side with Brooks/KP - but if those two are the halves, and you have a fullback like Garrick or French lining up as the main ball player on the right, it maybe makes it a bit too obvious where you’re about to go. Whereas Gamble/Pryce at 6 on the right preserves the threat of KP wrapping around to the open side to provide the extra man.

Judging by the way we’ve played this year, AOB wants to get away from a reliance on a ball dominant 7 i.e. Pearce and split the field - from a recruitment point of view, it tends to be easier to find halves who prefer playing one side than ones who want to chase the ruck around the field and touch the ball 75 times per game.

To be fair I think ponga can be equally as good on the right. When he runs himself he can create anything. He seemed to like attacking the Raiders on the right and it came off more often then not. If he stays at fullback he needs to get involved on both sides and think run before pass.

 

[Matty James]

I’m certainly on the Kalyn to 5/8 bandwagon if it means getting Garrick.

 

[mullenmagic]

Joey was adamantly against the switch when asked about it a few weeks ago, now talking it up, so it seems like it's definitely happening.

 

[Frank McWilliams]

I’m certainly on the Kalyn to 5/8 bandwagon if it means getting Garrick.

I think if Ponga is going to 5/8 it shouldn’t matter if we get Garrick or not, if the decision is made it must be given the full works, not half hearted, maybe. If no one else we get Hodgson at f/b and hopefully better than the 6 we might have without Ponga. 7 is still the worry but we have many options just not quality

 

[The Gidley flick]

Could we be a chance of getting Pryce early he plays fullback as well

 

[HarVeeGee13]

You could throw Gagai at 1 if you needed to.

 

[krustykraz]

You could throw Gagai at 1 if you needed to.

Let's promote the most underperforming player in the team. That'll fix the culture issues.

 

[Roundtable]

Dom to fullback!

 

[HarVeeGee13]

Just saying that “what do we do at fullback if we move KP?” isn’t a reason not to move KP.

 

[Kurriboy]

It’s not a misrepresentation. They’ve been training him there over the last 6 weeks and like what they see. They’ll make their decision before he returns for pre-season training on Nov 14. You’d imagine that’s because they’ll know by which time what kind of a shot they are at bringing in a replacement at 1.

Serious question, but what the fork?

They have been training him there for 6 weeks and like what they see, like this is a new thing they are just now trying out.

I have grave concerns for our coaching staff. Very, very grave concerns.

 

[JOJO82]

If ponga moves to 6 and we have no decent backups around all it's going to take is one head knock and it's bye bye season.

How is this bloke going to defend in the front line with the big boys targeting him ? Seriously, the wind blows and he gets knocked out.

Not really a fan of this move.

 

[mullenmagic]

Would need to basically build him up from scratch and there’s no certainty it would ever pay off but Dom is easily the highest upside fullback option at the club not named Ponga. Putting time into him developing some of those necessary skills throughout pre-season should absolutely be a focus.

 

[Billy]

Wouldn't hurt Dom to train to play fullback. Even if it didn't work out, it would make him a better winger.

 

[MontyBrogan]

That’s one of the big conundrums with the attack this year - teams know they can shut us down if they zero in on KP when we shift the ball, so he moves into more halves-like positions where opposition can’t fly in on him… but then you don’t have anyone playing as a fullback anymore.

This is the smartest sentence written on the forum this year. Sums up everything about the Knights attack post Kayln's first season, where he essentially snuck up on the rest of the comp.

 

[Joshhh]

I've grown too cynical to believe that moving Ponga to 6 will be the answer to our problems, but it just doesn't work for the balance of the team having him at fullback. One thing to consider, I wonder if they'll beef him up for a move to the front line? May have to sacrifice a little bit of agility with a move to the halves.

 

[nunnsy]

I've grown too cynical to believe that moving Ponga to 6 will be the answer to our problems, but it just doesn't work for the balance of the team having him at fullback. One thing to consider, I wonder if they'll beef him up for a move to the front line? May have to sacrifice a little bit of agility with a move to the halves.

Im not sure if was a recent picture or older but the photo i seen him of the other day he looked the biggest i have seen him ripped at least.

 

[HarVeeGee13]

If ponga moves to 6 and we have no decent backups around all it's going to take is one head knock and it's bye bye season.

How is this bloke going to defend in the front line with the big boys targeting him ? Seriously, the wind blows and he gets knocked out.

Not really a fan of this move.

If you don’t want to risk ever getting concussed, don’t play rugby league to begin with.

Everyone seems to want KP to charge back with the ball like Karmichael Hunt, that’s going to lead to more concussions than making 20 odd bear hugs each week.

Like if playing fullback was a way to avoid high speed collisions, why do they get hurt more often than halves and on average have shorter careers?

 

[JOJO82]

If you don’t want to risk ever getting concussed, don’t play rugby league to begin with.

Everyone seems to want KP to charge back with the ball like Karmichael Hunt, that’s going to lead to more concussions than making 20 odd bear hugs each week.

Like if playing fullback was a way to avoid high speed collisions, why do they get hurt more often than halves and on average have shorter careers?

Risking getting concussed isn't the point, obviously the risk is there we all know that. But KP has a history now with head knocks, playing in the front line exposes him to more chances of it happening.

How many times do we see players defending I'm the front cop friendly fire, stray elbows, head clashes? The risk is far greater than playing at the back, however he has copped a fair bit while playing at the back so heaven help him defending in the front.

 

[Kurriboy]

Risking getting concussed isn't the point, obviously the risk is there we all know that. But KP has a history now with head knocks, playing in the front line exposes him to more chances of it happening.

How many times do we see players defending I'm the front cop friendly fire, stray elbows, head clashes? The risk is far greater than playing at the back, however he has copped a fair bit while playing at the back so heaven help him defending in the front.

Some people just aren't cut out for contact sports.

Lets move him to 5/8 and if he can't hack it so be it. Playing him at 1 is pointless if we are babying him along and giving him a reason to avoid contact.

He is either going to make it or not. I'm not a fan of paying him 1 million a year to play risk averse rugby league.

 

[danknights]

I love seeing people's opinion on "beefing" him up for front line contact. Tackling is a technique, I look at Bradman best for example, very barrelled chest, strong legs but couldn't tackle a wet paper bag, he often gets bumped off because he can no longer get in "close" on first contact. Ends up trying to shirt grab.

The wrestle component of the game has really made the game move into a 2-3 man tackle everytime unlike the rugby league we all came to love. They forget to consider the basics and most blokes that get knocked out always lose track of their target points on an attacker. It's a contact sport at the end of the day and anything can happen in a matter of seconds, I just hope kay gets a lot of help defensively, his gonna bloody need it.