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Ponga Appreciation Thread.

Zoidberg

First Grade
Messages
6,154
How many teams actually lose their best players before they want to? Jarryd Hayne is the only one I can think of.

I remember in 2000 (showing my age) being so relieved when Joey re-signed with us, the biggest worry why he might have left was because the club was dumping Matty. That’s the only time I’ve worried we would lose a player we really didn’t want to.
I hate all the talk about it but I’m not really worried we will lose KP
 
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Old dog

Juniors
Messages
2,449
Signing him to a longer contract with upgrades is ok but if he wants to leave he will, contracts don’t seem to be binding, Klem for example, so keeping him happy in a successful team should be the aim. We can’t afford to overpay him and loose the team around him or not afford to buy others.
 

PhilGould

Bench
Messages
3,316
The Mole is reporting that Andre Ponga, Kalyn's dad, is set to take over as his manager, replacing Wayde Rushton.

Buzz Rothfield said himself on NRL 360 that he was getting his info from Rushton. Sounds like this has been a last ditch effort to get himself and Kalyn an upgrade, similar to the Jesse Ramien/manager situation from earlier in the year. Think this tweet from Toohey backs up that claim.

 

Burwood

Bench
Messages
4,769
I don't know if thats a good or bad thing to be honest.

At the moment, based on the very strong relationship between all of the Pongas and the club/Brown, I’d say it was an overwhelmingly positive thing.

If the relationship soured like it did in North Queensland, it would be quite negative.
 
Messages
3,663
I think Ponga will be with us for a long time. I can't see a reason he'd want to go to another NRL club. Newie is such a great place to live.
Eventually I think he might give Union a go looking at being a part of the World Cup.
He's settled for now and we have 2 1/2 years. I reckon he will seek an extension but not for a while (end of season maybe).
 

Burwood

Bench
Messages
4,769
Is he signed until 2021? If so, I’d be happy for a 2 year extension to take the 2023 Rugby World Cup out of the equation- a one year extension would be ringing alarm bells as it would give him a full 12 months to get into the NZ team.

If he was to try his hand at rugby in time for the 2027 World Cup I’d feel a bit more comfortable. 8-9 years of Ponga in Newcastle colours would be amazing.
 

Volcom6685

Juniors
Messages
120
Is he signed until 2021? If so, I’d be happy for a 2 year extension to take the 2023 Rugby World Cup out of the equation- a one year extension would be ringing alarm bells as it would give him a full 12 months to get into the NZ team.

If he was to try his hand at rugby in time for the 2027 World Cup I’d feel a bit more comfortable. 8-9 years of Ponga in Newcastle colours would be amazing.
Just curious have people actually seen where the Ponga to union thing came from ? Because what I saw was an interviewer ask him if he ever made the switch to Union who would you want to play for . Than answers All Blacks . Fr that every media outlet beat it up to Ponga wants to play for All Blacks
 

Burwood

Bench
Messages
4,769
Just curious have people actually seen where the Ponga to union thing came from ? Because what I saw was an interviewer ask him if he ever made the switch to Union who would you want to play for . Than answers All Blacks . Fr that every media outlet beat it up to Ponga wants to play for All Blacks

It is a media beat up. At this stage of his career I don’t think that union is enticing at all.

But it would be pretty naive to think that a World Cup wouldn’t be a massive drawcard for Ponga 2 and a half years down the track after this contract expires.

Him leaving for another NRL club doesn’t concern me because I think he has everything he needs here- he’s not the usual young player that is drawn to Sydney because of the nightlife etc. and I can’t see him getting homesick when his whole family have set up base here. He seems genuinely content in Newcastle and is here for all the right reasons.
 

Knight Vision

First Grade
Messages
5,066
https://www.news.com.au/sport/nrl/p...a/news-story/0b4b21638aa030186214b66455cbea22

Phil Gould begs NRL to open the war chest to secure Kalyn Ponga
Millions of dollars is what it will take to secure Kalyn Ponga but Phil Gould says the NRL should do whatever it takes to keep him at the Newcastle Knights.


news.com.auJUNE 12, 20194:07PM
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Phil Gould has called on the NRL to unleash the cash for Kalyn Ponga.Source:Getty Images

Phil Gould has implored the NRL to act now and help the Knights sign up Kalyn Ponga for the long term so as to avoid a raid from a potentially cashed up Rugby Australia.

Having cut Israel Folau loose there is every chance if they do not lose in court action that Rugby Australia could make a raid on the rugby league ranks as they have in the past.

Ponga could become a prime target not just for RA but also the New Zealand Rugby Union or French Rugby and Gould is worried that suitors will soon come calling after the Knights star, especially after he only enhanced his reputation with a sensational second half in Queensland’s State of Origin I victory.

The 21-year-old had played just a handful of NRL games when he joined the Knights, meaning his contract was huge for his experience level as of now it is estimated to be between $600,000 and $750,000 per season.

Gould estimated that could double for Ponga’s next deal and he says the NRL should do all it can to help him stay in the game, even if it means opening the long-forgotten marquee player war chest.

“Kalyn could go to European rugby and earn $2.5 million a year. God knows what he could earn at the All Blacks with endorsements and all that type of thing,” Gould said on his Six Tackles with Gus podcast, speaking with James Bracey.

4abc4d9c3c6728b4f311bbe1ddd3c6b1

Kalyn Ponga starred for the Maroons in Origin I.Source:AAP

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“It’s also up to the NRL, I believe. The NRL have got to assist the Knights in keeping Kalyn Ponga.

“He’s a marquee player in our game. The NRL have got to find endorsements and opportunities for him, and make him a part of their marketing.

“He’s young, he’s fresh, he’s new, he’s talented, he’s popular with the kids. The NRL should be marketing this fella and he should be the face of the NRL.

“You should never risk losing Kalyn Pongas and [James] Tedescos and these types of players from our game. They’ve got to help the Newcastle Knights.

“That’s what I would do, if I was running the game. I wouldn’t have rugby league losing Kalyn Ponga and the Knights wouldn’t lose him either.”

The NRL established a marquee player war chest in 2014 to be used in exceptional circumstances but has never made use of it as yet due to concerns around favouritism but it is there.

Rival NRL clubs can’t formally negotiate with Ponga until November 1, 2020 but according to Gould the Knights should try and table him a new deal now.

“My belief is that I never have a player underpaid. If I think he’s on the wrong money, I try to fix it the best way that we can,” Gould said.

“And no one else — no other team in the NRL, or the New Zealand All Blacks, or the European (rugby]) cherry-pickers — can pay him over the next two years. There’s only one person can pay him: his current employer.

“So if you keep him on the same money he’s on right now, when clearly his market value would be significantly greater, then you reduce your chances of extending his deal further down the line.

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Dylan Napa and Ponga celebrate their win.Source:News Corp Australia

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“It’s a give and take. ‘Kalyn, we’re prepared to pay you more money now, but we want another two or three years on the contract’.

“If we put you on more money, we’d like to extend your contract by another three years. So, let’s do a five-year deal for a housewife, car and kids and all the trimmings that go with it’.

“And that’s the offer, that’s how you go from there.”

Gould said he would make Ponga a million dollar a year player if he were running the Knights.

“For me, that’s the conversation I have with Kalyn. ‘Kalyn, I can put you $900,000 a year or $1 million a year, right now. But I want to do that for five years’,” he said.

“If Kalyn Ponga refuses that contract — if you say to him, ‘look, I’ll put you on $900,000, the $1 million, then $1.1 million, then $1.3 million, then $1.5 million for the next five years, let’s do the deal’ — and he says ‘no’, I’m saying, ‘All right, I’m gonna have a real problem in two years’ time’.

“If he’s on $600,000 for the next two years, and I’m offering him $800,000 and $900,000 (over those years), that’s a half a million dollars more money straight away.

“You’ve got to use the years on the contract to negotiate the next few. You get him at good value, but then he gets an increase, he gets another half a million dollars.”
 

aqua_duck

Coach
Messages
18,316
Whilst I'm not in favour of the NRL topping up contracts I do think it's a good idea to market the shit out of him and compensate him accordingly. Luckily he's very well spoken and articulate and would be a suitable ambassador for the game as opposed to someone like Inglis who can bare string a sentence together and has off field baggage as well
 

aqua_duck

Coach
Messages
18,316
Remeber Taia? Smith made a player out of that guy.
Still to this day I don't understand the bad wrap Smith copped, he got rid of a lot of underachieving and entitled players who largely faded into oblivion afterward, he made some very astute signings likr Taia, Junior Sau, Vuna, Houston, Hilder, Taufua, Fa'aoso, etc
 

Yosh

Coach
Messages
11,245
Loved Vuna. Good player that guy. Also had a big big smile on him which was fantastic! Scored four that one time didn't he?
 

Frederick

Moderator
Staff member
Messages
27,533
Still to this day I don't understand the bad wrap Smith copped, he got rid of a lot of underachieving and entitled players who largely faded into oblivion afterward, he made some very astute signings likr Taia, Junior Sau, Vuna, Houston, Hilder, Taufua, Fa'aoso, etc

The face of the Knights crisis
By Josh Massoud, DailyTelegraph
August 23, 2007 12:00am
MEET Sarah Matterson, the little girl who captures the disillusionment of Newcastle - Australia's crumbling rugby league stronghold.
After watching Penrith flog her beloved Knights 46-12 on Sunday, the nine-year-old decided to speak up on behalf of Newcastle fans young and old.

With a purple texta, she penned a hand-written plea to club management for the sacking of coach Brian Smith.

"Why has he wreked (sic) our team?" Sarah wrote.

"I reckon you should SACK him because you need to start winning."

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Her simple sentiments were widely echoed when The Daily Telegraphvisited Newcastle yesterday to gauge the city's reaction to Smith's first year as Knights coach and the controversial non-selection of Kirk Reynoldson.

But Sarah does not live among the other pained supporters. Instead, she was compelled to speak up from Albion Park on the South Coast - almost 400km away from Energy Australia Stadium.

The Year Three pupil watched Sunday's thrashing on television and, without being prompted by her Knights-mad mother Fiona, put pen to paper immediately after the coverage ended.

Ms Matterson posted the letter yesterday and is expecting a response from Newcastle CEO Steve Burraston when he receives it this morning.

"Sarah said, 'Mummy I think I'm going to write a letter to tell them they should do something'," Ms Matterson told The Daily Telegraph.

"I said, 'Okay, if you think that will help then go right ahead and I'll post it for you'.

"She even went onto the Internet to get the Knights' postal address from their website."

Asked why she decided to write the letter Sarah said: "When the game finished I looked at the score.

"They were really high and we were really low.

"That's when I decided to write it."

Sarah said she could hardly bear to watch her team lurch to its seventh straight loss at the hands of the wooden-spoon favourites.


"It hurt my eyes," she added.

"We need to start winning a bit. I want to get people thinking they should sack Brian Smith.

"We need someone who is good at coaching - maybe like the Storm's coach."

Although she lives in the shadows of the state's other steel city - Wollongong - Sarah supports Newcastle because her mum is a Knights member.

Ms Matterson said it was "out of character" for her daughter to write letters.

"She's never done it before," Ms Matterson said.

"She will normally just blow up and then calm down. This time she felt strongly enough and hoped that by doing this she might be able to stop them losing."
 

Knight Vision

First Grade
Messages
5,066
Whilst I'm not in favour of the NRL topping up contracts I do think it's a good idea to market the shit out of him and compensate him accordingly. Luckily he's very well spoken and articulate and would be a suitable ambassador for the game as opposed to someone like Inglis who can bare string a sentence together and has off field baggage as well
if I'm the Knights I've already approached the NRL to devise a plan to keep Ponga at the Knights and in RL. I'd leave no stone unturned in the pursuit of keeping Ponga long term. All cards on the table.

Brown sounded not pro-active in the interview, although I'm sure he wasnt about to let the world know what the clubs plans are- at least I hope so.
 

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