Ponga Appreciation Thread.

[Sir Galahad]

Edwards positions himself to be effective, not like Ponga who does it to bludge & pretend to be interested. Ponga is a flat track specialist, looks a million dollars against shit opposition but not much chop against a top notch team.
Throws the arm out to make a token attempt at stopping a try but 90% of time is just for show. Today when he was
knocked silly was the 10% & bet he made sure he didn't come back on when doing the HIA. Great touch footballer
but not much else! Millions wasted on his contract that could have been spent better elsewhere & where in this universe is he a captain & leader? The bloke is clueless, just watch him on the field. A captain says follow me boys
& inspires the team , boots & all, nothing like precious Kalyn. That just shows O`Briens mentality & ability, to appoint him is the dumbest decision he has made, photo finish with renewing Kurt Mann & Fitzgibbons contract!

a lot of this is hard to argue with

 

[Yosh]

… and Edwards still ran the ball for 200m.

Take a guess how many times Ponga has managed that this season.

Ponga took 3 or so early runs today. Never seen him do that before. I think learning from Billy has been a godsend.

I really really really hate Queensland but I can't seem to hate Slater for some reason. I personally would like to see him here over, EVEN, Ciraldo. If we are waiting for Origin to end so we can try to get Billy and the Gang here, I'm all for it.

 

[Loose Cannon]

Edwards positions himself to be effective, not like Ponga who does it to bludge & pretend to be interested. Ponga is a flat track specialist, looks a million dollars against shit opposition but not much chop against a top notch team.
Throws the arm out to make a token attempt at stopping a try but 90% of time is just for show. Today when he was
knocked silly was the 10% & bet he made sure he didn't come back on when doing the HIA. Great touch footballer
but not much else! Millions wasted on his contract that could have been spent better elsewhere & where in this universe is he a captain & leader? The bloke is clueless, just watch him on the field. A captain says follow me boys
& inspires the team , boots & all, nothing like precious Kalyn. That just shows O`Briens mentality & ability, to appoint him is the dumbest decision he has made, photo finish with renewing Kurt Mann & Fitzgibbons contract!

Can’t like this enough without splooging.

 

[Spot On]

Edwards positions himself to be effective, not like Ponga who does it to bludge & pretend to be interested. Ponga is a flat track specialist, looks a million dollars against shit opposition but not much chop against a top notch team.
Throws the arm out to make a token attempt at stopping a try but 90% of time is just for show. Today when he was
knocked silly was the 10% & bet he made sure he didn't come back on when doing the HIA. Great touch footballer
but not much else! Millions wasted on his contract that could have been spent better elsewhere & where in this universe is he a captain & leader? The bloke is clueless, just watch him on the field. A captain says follow me boys
& inspires the team , boots & all, nothing like precious Kalyn. That just shows O`Briens mentality & ability, to appoint him is the dumbest decision he has made, photo finish with renewing Kurt Mann & Fitzgibbons contract!

Nail on the head Old School.

Great post.

Welcome.

 

[Old dog]

One good break can gain you 50-60mts along with 5-6 runs of 20-30mts on kick returns and you have over 200mts, f/b in winning dominating sides will do it often but in a losing side with limited opportunity not likely
Stats can be used to show facts but not always an indication of the better player, usually the better side.
The difference between a very good player and a ordinary in a dominating side could be 60-80mts, either way you are happy because you are winning. Other factors like the quality of the kicks, the enthusiasm of the chase and the defensive ring around the receiver all count.
Penrith did it very well, we did it poorly

 

[Frederick]

 

[slotmachine]

Typical keyboard warrior, probably never played the game.

 

[Yosh]

He means tell the coach because our fullback has clearly been instructed to do it.

 

[Jono078]

He ain’t the only one. If any of you pay attention to my posts you’ll know how much it bothers me.

It’s the simplest tactic with the highest reward for our opponents smart enough to take advantage of it. This year that seems to be every week we play.

I even expect Clearly to take full advantage of it on Sunday night.

 

[Jono078]

He means tell the coach because our fullback has clearly been instructed to do it.

I just can’t believe how much Ponga has changed since AOB came here.

Search his 2018 and 2019 highlights. Always back collecting kicks and doing the miracle escapes out of our in goal. Sometimes he’d go the distance.

Ponga really looks more and more like a 6 that hangs around the ruck now.

 

[Blues Riff]

I like his tiny little tats. You wouldn't want to commit to more than 20 minutes of discomfort eh?

 

[Jono078]

Don’t really want to stir up any Ponga talk but I guess this inherently will.. I’m just curious on others thoughts;

So Ponga missed out last game due to HIA and he’s now suffered a few of them this year. Then he gets selected to play Origin 3 which will no doubt be a tough physical game.

How do you feel about him playing for Qld? Do you think he should have pulled himself out after recent HIAs?

Hypothetically what if he gets a good whack in the game, it wouldn’t be crazy to think he may just get ruled out for the season. You could say our season is gone anyway but I’d still like to see what a full strength team can do.

I have mixed thoughts. Don’t think he should pull out for what potentially might happen but I just get the feelings we’ll be the losers in this by the conclusion of game 3.

 

[ryan.a87]

I kinda agree

but you can’t pull a player out of rep duties because they *might* get injured

it was just bad timing and the video ref being too cautious calling it a category 1

 

[The Axe of Druss]

Its a slippery slope when players start ruling themselves out of rep matches cause it paves the way for clubs to put pressure on them to do so.

 

[Frederick]

f**k state of origin. We pay his wages, not Queensland

It should be played at the end of the season, after the grand final.

 

[Jono078]

Its a slippery slope when players start ruling themselves out of rep matches cause it paves the way for clubs to put pressure on them to do so.

Im trying to view it from Ponga’s perspective a little. If I’m him I know I’ve had a few head knocks this year and I might need to give the head a bit of rest. Whether he’s at that stage now or maybe after the next one - if it happens.

Like surely it’s on his mind now that he has to start taking care of himself before any game.

 

[Yosh]

Even as a Knights and NSW fan, I totally understand Ponga wanting to go play Origin. The Knights won't win anything and it must be boring losing every week and then getting hammered in the media for it (even if he played well and we lost). How many SOO deciders does a player get to play in Suncorp?

I hope he kills it (and Gagai too) but NSW win by 2.

 

[Jono078]

Even as a Knights and NSW fan, I totally understand Ponga wanting to go play Origin. The Knights won't win anything and it must be boring losing every week and then getting hammered in the media for it (even if he played well and we lost). How many SOO deciders does a player get to play in Suncorp?

I hope he kills it (and Gagai too) but NSW win by 2.

Yep totally understand that perspective too.

I just hope he gets through the game. Another HIA doesn't look good for anyone - Knights, Ponga and Qld.

 

[The Axe of Druss]

f**k state of origin. We pay his wages, not Queensland

It should be played at the end of the season, after the grand final.

Yeah thats never going to happen, for about 1M reasons, and its pretty silly to even suggest it really

End of season is for Internationals any way

 

[Knight Tales]

if KP ever understand the power he now yields at this club, he can change the entire fabric of the place. It’s either going to be a penny drops situation or else he is taught it by someone like Slater or Smith through origin.Like Yosh, I like the idea of a non compromising and total professional having influence over KP. He seems to not want to offend anybody. Can’t imagine Cam or Billy letting Obi walk over them at Storm. In fact Cam Smith would likely set him straight.