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Ponga Appreciation Thread.

Messages
746
Well at least there's a couple of breaking news stories that will take the heat off us for a while now lol
something has happened, a "story" does not disappear so quickly.

Gone is the "who's who at the zoo" that defamatory story by Hooper has been retracted completely. No mention of the Ponga story on FOX at all.

On Nine the main story has already gone from the landing page, and the only story left up is how it was all a mistake from Andre and the 3rd party was already paid in 2022.

Without doubt lawyers have been called in. Personally I hope Gardner's "handbag" as he was referred to takes em through the cleaners.
 
Messages
746
What was the who’s who in the zoo story about?
James Hooper article about Gardiner and his friend ( the one who was the 3rd party sponsor ) describing him as "known at the Knights as Gardiner's handbag" - it defamed him, and painted the Knights as a rabble ( zoo)
 

perverse

Referee
Messages
26,144
Thought I read somewhere that it has now been paid so story is done and dusted
It just sounds like a TPA wasn't holding up their share, Andre took it to the NRL to ask some questions and it turned into this.

Obviously some feathers got ruffled by the story and the payment got made on the back of that. We can speculate from there all we like about whatever brown paper bags may or may not be exchanging hands behind the scenes to make that happen, but on the face of it there's yeah nothing left to talk about. Andre and Kalyn got what they wanted, and realistically - at least on paper - it didn't really have much to do with the club at all. Sometimes you've gotta shake the tree a bit to get an apple to fall.

If it is part of a cap evasion strategy, and the knights hadn't paid the third party Kalyns wage to pass onto him, then I would suggest the club cheats a little more competantly in the future and at least makes sure all our players get their dirty money. If there's one thing that will blow a clubs salary cap scandal into the papers it's a disgruntled player that hasn't been paid what they were promised.

And I say that so casually because i think most fans have little trouble reading between the lines that every club is "maximising their salary cap" through any means possible.
 

Knight Tales

Bench
Messages
2,553
It just sounds like a TPA wasn't holding up their share, Andre took it to the NRL to ask some questions and it turned into this.

Obviously some feathers got ruffled by the story and the payment got made on the back of that. We can speculate from there all we like about whatever brown paper bags may or may not be exchanging hands behind the scenes to make that happen, but on the face of it there's yeah nothing left to talk about. Andre and Kalyn got what they wanted, and realistically - at least on paper - it didn't really have much to do with the club at all. Sometimes you've gotta shake the tree a bit to get an apple to fall.

If it is part of a cap evasion strategy, and the knights hadn't paid the third party Kalyns wage to pass onto him, then I would suggest the club cheats a little more competantly in the future and at least makes sure all our players get their dirty money. If there's one thing that will blow a clubs salary cap scandal into the papers it's a disgruntled player that hasn't been paid what they were promised.

And I say that so casually because i think most fans have little trouble reading between the lines that every club is "maximising their salary cap" through any means possible.
Well said. It sounds like our club is a little more crafty than we thought. Until the TP payment does not eventuate. $250 K is a lot of cash. If we absorbed it under our cap the the question is why? But again I am confused by this circus. As you can tell by the fact I had KP out the door. I am just really tired of us being seen as an easy target to exploit.
 
Messages
746
https://wwos.nine.com.au/nrl/news-2...contract/1b588807-96d4-4cfc-8a4e-ac37d2c19db3

'No money was owed': Kalyn Ponga issues reportedly resolved despite Roosters rumours​


The initial third-party agreement between Ponga and Cannavo was worth close to $50,000 per season, but was agreed upon in 2020 when the captain signed a deal.

The confusion from the Ponga camp came after the 26-year-old renegotiated and signed a fresh contract with Newcastle two years later.
But it appears any potential dramas are in the rear-view mirror, with Andre confirming to The Herald he had "no issues or problems at all" with Cannavo, who also reiterated there was never any money outstanding.

"No money was ever owed," he told The Herald.

The third party finished on the 5th of April, 2022 when the new contract was on foot and no payment has been made as per the story released on Fox Sports tonight. The story written stating that I had paid the Ponga's $250,000 today is completely false."
 

Apey

Moderator
Staff member
Messages
27,279
Yeah my understanding is nothing was owed to begin with? Andre thought there were outstanding payments for 2023/2024 so he went to the NRL, but the TPA apparently ended in 2022 when Ponga signed a new contract; where he wanted all his earnings under the cap.

Really seemed to be an absolute nothing story.

edit: yeah what the article above posted said.
 

Burwood

Bench
Messages
4,837
So after days of negative headlines about the club and story after story about Ponga being unhappy and possibly linking to the Roosters, it turns out that there was no money owed, no shady deals, no player unrest, no secret meetings?

Is there even an NRL investigation into significant salary cap breaches as was mentioned in several articles?

And Michael Chammas who broke the story decided to double down when others pointed out that there was zero happening: “ there’s some details that we can’t say at the moment that will come to light over the next 24-48 hours that are quite significant.”

Lol, yeah right.
 

slotmachine

First Grade
Messages
7,276
Yeah my understanding is nothing was owed to begin with? Andre thought there were outstanding payments for 2023/2024 so he went to the NRL, but the TPA apparently ended in 2022 when Ponga signed a new contract; where he wanted all his earnings under the cap.

Shows you the intelligence of Mr Ponga Snr when he doesn't understand the contract that he supposedly negotiated for his son.
 
Messages
746
So after days of negative headlines about the club and story after story about Ponga being unhappy and possibly linking to the Roosters, it turns out that there was no money owed, no shady deals, no player unrest, no secret meetings?
yep, and the only article remaining online is the one above, which is a great sign that the club or those mentioned in the articles weren't about to accept the lies written about them.
 

Woody90

Juniors
Messages
1,430
yep, and the only article remaining online is the one above, which is a great sign that the club or those mentioned in the articles weren't about to accept the lies written about them.

Yeah I’m pretty impressed the club stood up for itself. The article about the “zoo” was particularly low, even by Fox’s standards. There’s no way they write a headline like that about any of the clubs they perceive as a “power club” but they’ll happily attach it to the Knights. Pretty low.
 

perverse

Referee
Messages
26,144
https://wwos.nine.com.au/nrl/news-2...contract/1b588807-96d4-4cfc-8a4e-ac37d2c19db3

'No money was owed': Kalyn Ponga issues reportedly resolved despite Roosters rumours​


The initial third-party agreement between Ponga and Cannavo was worth close to $50,000 per season, but was agreed upon in 2020 when the captain signed a deal.

The confusion from the Ponga camp came after the 26-year-old renegotiated and signed a fresh contract with Newcastle two years later.
But it appears any potential dramas are in the rear-view mirror, with Andre confirming to The Herald he had "no issues or problems at all" with Cannavo, who also reiterated there was never any money outstanding.

"No money was ever owed," he told The Herald.

The third party finished on the 5th of April, 2022 when the new contract was on foot and no payment has been made as per the story released on Fox Sports tonight. The story written stating that I had paid the Ponga's $250,000 today is completely false."
Who the hell knows what's true or isn't when you have a hostile media that will just print whatever the hell they want.
 

Burwood

Bench
Messages
4,837
There’s no accountability these days. A journalist completely fabricates a story and nothing comes out of it. They’re not even embarrassed or show any humility when presented with reality- they just double down.
 

Alex28

Coach
Messages
11,831
How bullshit are third party agreements? The owner is a contractor to the club, the club CEO is a director of the sponsoring company, and that is approved by the NRL?

also, the Ponga’s… agitating around his contract and meeting with the Roosters is just a happy coincidence - around the time where the Roosters are looking at the succession of their fullback and five-eighth?

sure…
 

Apey

Moderator
Staff member
Messages
27,279
also, the Ponga’s… agitating around his contract and meeting with the Roosters is just a happy coincidence - around the time where the Roosters are looking at the succession of their fullback and five-eighth?
He was with Zammit, who yes is the Rooster's recruitment manager and previously ours/Cowboys, so he has a fairly long history with the Pongas now.

That our current recruitment manager was also there tells me there's nothing in it really.
 

Yosh

Coach
Messages
11,451
Keep Davy at 1 and Ponga to 6? Surely it'll be part of the discussion in another 6 or 7 weeks.
 
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