Kalyn Ponga discussion

It’s gotten to the point where I don’t care if he leaves. I can’t be the only one who thinks he comes off arrogant when talking to media. Don’t get me wrong he’s a once in a generation talent. But I just don’t think hes worth the money or the drama (this is entirely on the media not his fault per se). The strawberry thick shake comment during Brown’s departure was the beginning of him having a ****head personality in the press.
If Ponga leaves, Sharpe to fullback (a position where he will kill it and score a thousand tries from support play). Brown to 6, and we use Kalyn’s money on an organising 7 and some new middles.
Kalyn Ponga is not worth more money than Nathan Cleary, yet we’re the idiots who believe that. Have you seen Cleary not turn up for a presser? Have you seen Cleary have games where he looks disinterested? Have you seen Cleary make arrogant comments in the media? No, I’ve only seen Cleary win 4 consecutive grand finals.
 
Given our current roster I’d take Moses, DCE, Cleary, Katoa, Hughes, Haas over Ponga. Let alone someone like Hughes and two decent middles
 
On last play 5th tackle multiple times when Cogger kicks -
Ponga just stays at the back of the line not even supporting or caring just goes to the trainer for some water
Papenhuzen or Teddy would be running and supporting
Even Jye Gray would

Right now
Lachlan Miller, David Armstrong, Fletcher Sharpe would be better than Ponga at Fullback
Can we even ask Corey Thompson to come out of retirement

I can't think of a more worse fullback at the moment besides Daine Laurie
 
Imagine what we could do with the Ponga money. Everyone (including me) have been ****ting on Brown. But with an organising half, he can be fairly spectacular. If Ponga leaves, and we’re just ****ing patient… a genuine 7 will end up a free agent. In the meantime, we spend some of the cap we have left and maybe some of the 1.3 or 1.4 or whatever it is of Ponga’s money on one or two middles who are NRL quality with LEADERSHIP qualities
 
HarVeeGee13 said:
DCE, Adam Reynolds, Toby Sexton and Jamal Fogarty are all genuine #7’s and off contract right now…
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If I am any of those guys I am not coming to this team unless I am being paid 2 million+ a year.

Not a Premiership contender, **** leadership and an organisation In disarray looking from the outside In.

Hell, even then I would have to think about It.
 
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Sarge said:
Wait till next years headlines And the year after and .........Media hasn't started yet
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Yeah one ordinary game and the pile on will begin. You almost feel bad for Brown cause there's no way he can ever live up to the deal he got. But im sure he will sleep fine on a giant pile of money
 
slotmachine said:
Yeah one ordinary game and the pile on will begin. You almost feel bad for Brown cause there's no way he can ever live up to the deal he got. But im sure he will sleep fine on a giant pile of money
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Media won't be the only people given it to him . Not sure he knows he is coming to live in a goldfish bowl !
 
Getting a bit tinfoil hat over here.

When POS was at the Dolphins, Kalyn’s dad strung him along, trying to get the absolute maximum $$$ out of him. Then Andre went radio silent on him, the extension with the Knights was announced, and POS cracked the ****s and leaked a story about how dishonourable Andre etc is to the press. Clearly, POS does not like the Pongas at this point.

Then we hire POS.

Seemingly immediately he’s started clearing house - older, experienced players for the most part de-emphasised. If you’re a good but not great player like D Saf on an inflated salary, seeya. It kind of sounds like from his interview a month or so back he tried to move someone like Hetho, Elliott, etc as well. The only established players he’s re-signed are Crossland, Lucas and Sharpe, and he tried and failed to secure Leo… all young guys likely years off their prime. Aside from that he’s mostly signed teenagers.

There isn’t a single decision he’s made which lines up with Kalyn’s timetable. If Cody Hopwood’s career progresses like Carrigan or Yeo for example, as optimistic as that outcome would be, that would mean his first season of regular high quality first grade would be… 2028.

It’s a total shift in approach from trying to get the best team we can around Ponga every season, to totally disregarding what Kalyn would want (and to be clear, we always should have been doing that. Can’t let one player rule a team. Can’t run a club as a social club for your star player). If we’re trying to maximise Kalyn’s chances of winning a comp over his prime, an experienced organising 7 would have been the only thing he’d even consider signing. DCE becoming available would have been like the heavens aligning. But that team would not win the comp because there’s no way we could have a pack good enough (as we’ve seen with DCE & Turbo playing behind spuds).

If Kalyn doesn’t like it? Well, we’ve now signed a guy who’s kind of like Kalyn, a player we’ve tried like hell to turn into a five-eighth multiple times, to accommodate various fullback options… but he’s actually a five-eighth. And a hugely talented young guy at five-eighth who clearly, obviously, inarguably, should be playing fullback…
 
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HarVeeGee13 said:
Getting a bit tinfoil hat over here.

When POS was at the Dolphins, Kalyn’s dad strung him along, trying to get the absolute maximum $$$ out of him. Then Andre went radio silent on him, the extension with the Knights was announced, and POS cracked the ****s and leaked a story about how dishonourable Andre etc is to the press. Clearly, POS does not like the Pongas at this point.

Then we hire POS.

Seemingly immediately he’s started clearing house - older, experienced players for the most part de-emphasised. If you’re a good but not great player like D Saf on an inflated salary, seeya. It kind of sounds like from his interview a month or so back he tried to move someone like Hetho, Elliott, etc as well. The only established players he’s re-signed are Crossland, Lucas and Sharpe, and he tried and failed to secure Leo… all young guys likely years off their prime. Aside from that he’s mostly signed teenagers.

There isn’t a single decision he’s made which lines up with Kalyn’s timetable. If Cody Hopwood’s career progresses like Carrigan or Yeo for example, as optimistic as that outcome would be, that would mean his first season of regular high quality first grade would be… 2028.

It’s a total shift in approach from trying to get the best team we can around Ponga every season, to totally disregarding what Kalyn would want (and to be clear, we always should have been doing that. Can’t let one player rule a team. Can’t run a club as a social club for your star player). If we’re trying to maximise Kalyn’s chances of winning a comp over his prime, an experienced organising 7 would have been the only thing he’d even consider signing. DCE becoming available would have been like the heavens aligning. But that team would not win the comp because there’s no way we could have a pack good enough (as we’ve seen with DCE & Turbo playing behind spuds).

If Kalyn doesn’t like it? Well, we’ve now signed a guy who’s kind of like Kalyn, a player we’ve tried like hell to turn into a five-eighth multiple times, to accommodate various fullback options… but he’s actually a five-eighth. And a hugely talented young guys at five-eighth who clearly, obviously, inarguably, should be playing fullback…
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The more I am thinking about it, the more I am starting to think maybe we did put a contract extension to Ponga and maybe it's not as large as he would like.
 
It’s hard not to read too much into things. He looked busy in the all stars game and our opening 2 games. But since then, he’s been going through the motions.

He’s taking a few tough carries out of our end, but it’s straight into traffic. So he’s still doing some of the dirty work. Opposition seem to be avoiding kicking to him, so he’s not returning the ball into broken field as much either.

With Ponga doing more and more of our kicking, I can see a world where we roll the dice on him as a 7 to get him involved more as some have suggested. My concern is that at 7, running the ball may become a last resort, and I think Ponga is most dangerous when running. So all well and good to be giving the ball to your best player, but if he’s just passing it to Lucas and KPP to run unders, I’d rather Cogger do that and keep Ponga for the 3 v 3 s.



Into the off the field conspiracy theories.

His absence from the presser was interesting. Maybe we were protecting him from some questions.

I can’t help but think something has happened somewhere behind the scenes.

He has either been approached illegally and has had his head turned and mind is elsewhere. Or, he’s lost faith in the gameplan, if there is one.

Or is the focus on Sharpe’s development at the moment and Ponga has been told to let the halves sort things out.

Or is he not super keen on the Brown deal. Does he want to be the only big fish, or was he not consulted or has he been informed we are heading in a different direction.

All of the preseason talk pointed to a monster year from Ponga. He seemed more determined and committed than ever. Not sure what has changed, but there’s something off here.



Sincerely, an NRL fantasy coach who is sick of his scores in the 20s, but still hasn’t traded him out because “what if he comes good”.
 
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