Kalyn Ponga re-signs with the Knights

Ponga does his best to make it look like an attempt but avoids contact wherever possible. Very bad trait for a fullback yet some want him defending in the front line… mind boggling.
 
cowboyman said:
Ponga does his best to make it look like an attempt but avoids contact wherever possible. Very bad trait for a fullback yet some want him defending in the front line… mind boggling.
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Lot easier to defend in the front line with plenty of help around you rather than one on one. Remember he came on at lock in origin and did a decent job at it.
 
nunnsy said:
Lot easier to defend in the front line with plenty of help around you rather than one on one. Remember he came on at lock in origin and did a decent job at it.
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Much easier to put in at origin level in that one off situation compared to the weekly grind at club footy. He hasn’t been sighted since at attempting to make a genuine tackle. Instead it’s pathetic dives when they are all but clear of him.
 
cowboyman said:
Ponga does his best to make it look like an attempt but avoids contact wherever possible. Very bad trait for a fullback yet some want him defending in the front line… mind boggling.
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It's a valid criticism of the last two years, but I can't help but think there's something more to it than that.

As you should know, given you watched him come through your junior system, being soft wasn't the wrap on KP. Heck, just go back and watch the try saver from round 1 in 2018. He torpedoes his head into Uate. It's not great tackling technique (to put it mildly), but that's someone who isn't shying away from contact.

You very rarely see guys become soft between 21 and 23, it's something you either have or you don't. I'm not sure if he's been coached to protect himself, or if he's just been playing with a shoulder that hasn't been right for a couple of years - but I think either of those are probably better explanations than he suddenly just "avoids contact wherever possible".
 
If it’s being coached out of him it’s a joke the toughness, Tommy Turbo and Teddy never shy away from the tough stuff. Could it be his Dad in the coaches ears about protecting him. I’ve never heard of another parent having the supposed influence his Dad supposedly does?
 
I've said it before, last year Bennett said that Souths fans had to change their ideas on what they thought Latrell should be at fullback, that he was a bigger body who didn't have the motor of a Slater or Tedesco but could be just as effective in his own way. Do we have to adjust our thinking with Ponga? Two things stick out for me:

1) He usually tops our run metres by a significant amount even without doing the kick returns on tackle one, so he is getting plenty of the ball

2) If he slots in to the A defender role near our line, like most fullbacks do, and gets targeted to make a tackle, which a lot of oppositions do, he is usually still pulling himself off the ground and watches the next play unfold, unlike an elite defensive fullback like Gutherson or Teddy who are available on the next play to cover anything from a kick back to the posts or a spread wide to the winger. Latrell can't get involved in the next play either. They don't have the motor. Other players look to cover those angles for Latrell.

Our defence improved a lot towards the end of last year and one of the areas of praise was Ponga's improved communication from the back, which is massively important.

I'd love to see Ponga hanging around the ruck on early tackles and an option out wide later, all the while ready to back up breaks like Teddy is. But he doesn't have the motor. If we concentrate on getting him the ball where he is most dangerous more often and we score more points next year because of it, and he continues to improve his defensive organisation, maybe that's enough to help the team improve big time. That, even if he isn't returning the ball at a 100 miles an hour and making his cover tackles, may have to be enough for our expectations of him.
 
If we have him hanging around the ruck for a few tackles, then we don't have him at 1st or second receiver where we need him. And if as AOB says he is going to be more involved in our attack then we can't afford to have him just hanging around the ruck.

This is why I keep saying he needs to play from 5/8. We are still weakening two positions playing him at fullback. That interview with Ponga where he was asked if he said no to moving to the halves, I thought he basically confirmed that. AOB raised it with him, and he said he wants to play fullback.

I don't think Ponga sees his role as defending in the line, whether that is the coaching instructions he has been given or not I don't know. He is our weapon in attack and therefore spends his time in defensive sets hanging out the back. Also why he passes the ball off for kick returns most times.

I think the kick return thing is coached as you see wingers getting back but then quickly moving to where Ponga is and getting in to passing position very quickly, like they know that is the game plan every time.

We already play Ponga like a 5/8 in attack. We should just buy/select a fullback at 5/8 that can tackle and when attack happens they can take the fullback role that Ponga can't do. We are still playing a half and fullback just not standing traditionally where they would in D.
 
The changes Johns made to Moses at Parra might be an indication of how he would change Ponga.
Moses is actually getting involved less, but every time he gets involved, he has a plan and he is more often than not working with others to get a result, rather than trying to do it all himself.
I can see Ponga having a lot more "tricks" up his sleeve, but only getting involved when others have done the donkey work already.
In short - he won't be working harder, he'll be working smarter.

The one thing I think they'll be working on a lot is Ponga's kicking game. Johns will have him kicking for big Dom or even Gagai, just when everyone thinks he'll run.
 
Why do you keep talking about KP’s kicking? Do you think we’ll be giving our fullback the kicking load of a half?
 
HarVeeGee13 said:
Why do you keep talking about KP’s kicking? Do you think we’ll be giving our fullback the kicking load of a half?
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Thats the thing though, he isn't a "Fulback" in the traditional sense. At the end of sets he will be an attacking half.

We have cliff to heft up the bombs from further out, and no doubt he can chime in with some attacking kicks also closer to the line, but if Ponga is going to be the man that our atack flows through, he is going to need to have the kick option in his kitbag of tricks to add another dimension to what defences have to think about.

KP is already a weapon out wide attacking a teams edges. But giving him that option to kick in behind the D is a smart play as it can keep the winger/centre hedging their bets and not quite sure whether to come up to shut down the KP bullet pass, or hang back a bit in case he kicks it in behind the line. KP to exploit whatever their decision is.
 
HarVeeGee13 said:
Why do you keep talking about KP’s kicking? Do you think we’ll be giving our fullback the kicking load of a half?
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In 2020 he was just about our second kicker behind Pearce.
With Clifford and Pearce in 2021 he kicked a lot less.
Without Pearce, kicking will be part of his game again, and he needs to improve it.
Johns will work on that for sure.
 
Kurriboy said:
Thats the thing though, he isn't a "Fulback" in the traditional sense. At the end of sets he will be an attacking half.

We have cliff to heft up the bombs from further out, and no doubt he can chime in with some attacking kicks also closer to the line, but if Ponga is going to be the man that our atack flows through, he is going to need to have the kick option in his kitbag of tricks to add another dimension to what defences have to think about.

KP is already a weapon out wide attacking a teams edges. But giving him that option to kick in behind the D is a smart play as it can keep the winger/centre hedging their bets and not quite sure whether to come up to shut down the KP bullet pass, or hang back a bit in case he kicks it in behind the line. KP to exploit whatever their decision is.
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Yeah ponga has already had success kicking behind the line more so the season before last from memory . It makes his running game so much more dangerous because if you hang off him a second too long he is going to burn you.
 
Kurriboy said:
If we have him hanging around the ruck for a few tackles, then we don't have him at 1st or second receiver where we need him. And if as AOB says he is going to be more involved in our attack then we can't afford to have him just hanging around the ruck.

This is why I keep saying he needs to play from 5/8. We are still weakening two positions playing him at fullback. That interview with Ponga where he was asked if he said no to moving to the halves, I thought he basically confirmed that. AOB raised it with him, and he said he wants to play fullback.

I don't think Ponga sees his role as defending in the line, whether that is the coaching instructions he has been given or not I don't know. He is our weapon in attack and therefore spends his time in defensive sets hanging out the back. Also why he passes the ball off for kick returns most times.

I think the kick return thing is coached as you see wingers getting back but then quickly moving to where Ponga is and getting in to passing position very quickly, like they know that is the game plan every time.

We already play Ponga like a 5/8 in attack. We should just buy/select a fullback at 5/8 that can tackle and when attack happens they can take the fullback role that Ponga can't do. We are still playing a half and fullback just not standing traditionally where they would in D.
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I think you are spot on, he is a six playing fullback. That's fine, we can work with that, we just need a six to compliment what he does.
 
Yeah, the way KP plays you can make that work you just need to compensate for it, Melbourne do this really well, they way they attack will change a lot depending if Smith or Grant is at dummy half and also Hines and Pappy last year. If Ponga is attacking in the halves it would be good to get someone to play the traditional FB role around the ruck or out the back,
 
Overthinking it. Clifford, Crossland and Clune are all halfbacks, not running five-eighths. They’re all better kickers than Kalyn. We don’t need a hybrid half/fullback and our 6 also playing a weird hybrid role. We just need Kalyn to play fullback better.

Nothing wrong with popping up with an opportunistic short kick when it’s on a la Tedesco, but Clifford should be doing about 2/3 of the kicking at least, with one of Clune/Crossland always available as a second option.

Clune is an intelligent organising half. Clifford is far better at creating space for others than throwing the killer pass himself. Crossland you can trust to keep it simple and execute his role. We need to base our attack around those guys getting Kalyn and our other strike weapons into good positions to make things happen, rather than having Kalyn be the entire engine of the attack while our halves, what, stand around?
 
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