To me, the elephant in the room is Ponga's concussion history. The Knights have invested a lot of money in him so far for little reward. He may only be 1 or 2 more concussions away from having to hang them up in reality. I'm not suggesting the Knights mgmt would have pressured him to make this decision, but all the same, they'd be pretty happy he has made the call I reckon.
If he copped a career ending head knock while in a Knights jersey, it'd suck but it would suck less than if he copped a concussion playing for Australia or QLD... From a Knights perspective that is.....