KALYN Ponga and other senior Knights players will join the rest of the club on Wednesday for pre-season training but exactly what role the in-demand superstar fills in 2022 is unlikely to be clear until much closer to season kickoff. The release last week of halfback Mitchell Pearce to take up a three-year deal with French Super League club Catalans has left the Knights with a large void. Pearce's exit has freed up about $700,000 to sign a potential replacement. There are other options. Adam Clune was recruited from the Dragons to be Pearce's back-up and Phoenix Crossland enters his third full season. Knights head of football Danny Buderus confirmed last week that they may look at spending Pearce's money on recruiting a fullback and moving Ponga into the halves. "We don't necessarily buy a halfback, do we go another way and buy a fullback? There's lots of different options we need to weigh up, but we've got a lot of work to do." Buderus said. Knights coach Adam O'Brien said in July that his preference was for Ponga to stay at fullback when it was suggested the Queenslander wanted to move closer to the action. It seems O'Brien's stance hasn't changed. "Kalyn will play fullback for us," O'Brien said in a News Limited report on Sunday. "I see a hunger in him that he still wants to get more out of himself in the full back position. He is our one at this stage." Clune and Crossland were among the first group of players to start pre-season a fortnight ago and have impressed the coach. "Adam has led our fitness testing, applied himself and talks really well at meetings. "We will accelerate the development of our younger guys. I've been impressed with Phoenix. He thrived in the environment in Queensland and got better and better."
Knights legend Andrew Johns has been contracted to work with the halves and met with Ponga last week to unveil his plans for the 23-year-old. Regardless of what number Ponga wears, he will have a greater role to play in attack. "We've designed it so he gets more quality ball and we are looking at ways to integrate him in to the game more," O'Brien said "The way we have designed our attack is not to rely on a dominant seven. It will feature around Jayden Brailey and Kalyn. That will help fill the void of Mitchell." Ponga, who who is under contract for three seasons at the Knights but has various get-out clauses in the deal, reportedly met with Dolphins coach Wayne Bennett last week. The Dolphins are chasing star power ahead of their inaugural season in 2023 and have targeted Ponga.
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