Ponga leaving media speculation

If the club pays the dude even one cent to play a game for another team they need their heads read.

The only type of player you could replace Kalyn with which 1. arguably improves your chance of winning a comp and 2. is ever actually available to sign, is an elite play 1 front rower. No one with an elite halfback is letting that guy walk. You might as well try to sign Batman. And using Kalyn’s salary to stack mid range players/improve depth doesn’t bring you closer to winning a comp.

I’ve laid this out before, but it’s smarter to make decisions about what the club needs going forward *after* seeing how Brown & Ponga combine, after seeing how Sandon Smith develops, after seeing the improvement arc players like Mooney, Hopwood & McEwen are on. By which I mean - after we know how much money it’s going to take to keep each player in question.

The smartest roster decision the club could make at this point is to take no further action, for now.
 
Last edited:
This might be the most naive thing I've seen written on this forum.
That is the most naive thing I've ever seen on this forum.

If he is shopping himself around against the terms of his contract with us, we can cancel his contract. He'd have to be insane to do it. Not to mention we could sue whoever was talking to him about signing, so they wouldn't do it without it being with permission from the club.
 
There wouldn’t be a lawsuit. Anti-tampering rules are a specific pro sports thing that the league administers. Not a universal employment law thing. Not really a matter for courts.
 
If the club pays the dude even one cent to play a game for another team they need their heads read.

The only type of player you could replace Kalyn with which 1. arguably improves your chance of winning a comp and 2. is ever actually available to sign, is an elite play 1 front rower. No one with an elite halfback is letting that guy walk. You might as well try to sign Batman. Using Kalyn’s salary to stack mid range players/improve depth doesn’t bring you closer to winning a comp.

I’ve laid this out before, but it’s smarter to make decisions about what the club needs going forward *after* seeing how Brown & Ponga combine, after seeing how Sandon Smith develops, after seeing the improvement arc players like Mooney, Hopwood & McEwen are on. By which I mean - after we know how much money it’s going to take to keep each player in question.

The smartest roster decision the club could make at this point is to take no further action, for now.
Call me crazy, but is Batman available and if so, should we be looking into him?
 
Unique take from Denan on the Bloke podcast….he reckons the rumours have been planted by the club to encourage him to leave and free up cap space.
Pretty sure it was reported that POS considered moving KP on when he first got here to free up space but decided against it.

That would’ve been the time to do it, not now when there’s nobody available.

Apparently, there’s been less media leaks from inside since a certain garden gnome stepped aside
 
Pretty sure it was reported that POS considered moving KP on when he first got here to free up space but decided against it.

That would’ve been the time to do it, not now when there’s nobody available.

Apparently, there’s been less media leaks from inside since a certain garden gnome stepped aside
Im sure POS looked at all players but if they wanted him off the books they would have approached KP and told him he is free to look elsewhere.

Agree Re the leaks. Embarrassing that was happening.
 
The club either wants Ponga to stay or to go. There's no in between.

If the club wants him, it makes it extraordinarily difficult for him to be having meaningful conversations with other NRL clubs. Yes, Ponga may turnaround tomorrow and request a release 'on compassionate grounds' following which contract terms will suspiciously and immediately emerge, but for a player of his calibre and attention, the player would need to really want to leave for a scenario like this to be realistic. Otherwise competing clubs risk being caught making unsolicited advances towards a core asset of another club. For all the talk about it, an affair of that magnitude rarely takes place. Anyone have examples of this happening?

The only realistic scenario is one where the club has informally and discretely granted permission to Ponga to speak (off the record) to other clubs. But why the **** would POS, Holbrook or the board want Ponga playing elsewhere? We now have a well balanced squad around our key man, the club needs the player now more than ever imo because we now have the nucleus of a squad that may enter a prem window if the stars align over the next 3-4 years.

No club can pay him more than we will. So if he goes it'll be for the prospect of immediate success. The Roosters have Teddy at 1. That leaves The Dogs? Who else has the money and the position available? And the dogs dont have the money, yet.
 
Didn't Gus publicly court Galvin by blowing smoke up his *** and saying he's the best young talent blah blah which enticed him to get out of his contract.
 
Back
Top