Ponga Appreciation Thread.

[Mr_Knightside]

I’m not saying he wouldn’t make our team better, he would walk into the starting 13 but I would be careful not to throw ridiculous money at him just yet.

 

[Yosh]

Is Suualii THAT good though? No doubting he’s a good player but people are talking about him like he’s a once in a generation talent and I don’t think he’s shown that sort of level in the NRL yet. There was talk of him unseating Tedesco at fullback but so far the times he’s played fullback he hasn’t been a world beater.

I'm no talent scout but I have been watching the Roosters because I wanted to see more Suualii and he is amazing. Just amazing. He looks like he has a good head on his shoulders. Apparently he stayed at the Roosters for 700k, even if we throw $1million of Ponga's money, we still have 400k left.

 

[ryan.a87]

Obviously all hypothetical if ponga retires
But we will probably not resign Frizell (or at the very least downgrade him)

we also have the following off contact

Adam Clune, Lachlan Fitzgibbon, Tyson Frizell, Bailey Hodgson, Hymel Hunt, Jack Johns, Brodie Jones, Kurt Mann, Enari Tuala, Dominic Young

Out of those I could see them resigning Hodgson, Johns and probably Mann (sigh)

that clears so much cap space to hit the market hard for spots we are lacking ie, back rowers and solid bench players

we don’t need to replace ponga as we have miller and Pryce on the books for next year

 

[Jono078]

Is Suualii THAT good though? No doubting he’s a good player but people are talking about him like he’s a once in a generation talent and I don’t think he’s shown that sort of level in the NRL yet. There was talk of him unseating Tedesco at fullback but so far the times he’s played fullback he hasn’t been a world beater.

He's still young, but apparently he's the ultimate professional. He's absolutely someone you can build a team around.

Anyway probably not nice to discuss now until the Ponga stuff is sorted out.

 

[Jono078]

wrong thread

 

[Nuke]

Ponga gets medically retired. Paid out his $5m. 12-18 months later gets offered a RU contract and he's off chasing his All Blacks dream.
Presumably 'medically retired' only impacts his NRL career?

 

[Jono078]

I'm getting tired of seeing media discuss where to hide Ponga in defence. Do they forget that majority of his HIA came from him being the attacker last year? He's a target no matter where you play him.

 

[macavity]

I'm getting tired of seeing media discuss where to hide Ponga in defence. Do they forget that majority of his HIA came from him being the attacker last year? He's a target no matter where you play him.

A run of bad luck is a run of bad luck.

How about punishing the blokes who head hunt him?

 

[Jono078]

A run of bad luck is a run of bad luck.

How about punishing the blokes who head hunt him?

Absolutely, but once again that's just half the problem.

He's either attacking and getting head shots, or he's defending and getting KO'd.

Hopefully there's a good string of good luck coming up for him.

 

[Spot On]

He can start by fixing his tackle technique.

 

[slotmachine]

He can start by fixing his tackle technique.

Sione was another bloke who liked getting square on and tackling with his face, haven't heard anything about more concussions for him in England so maybe he fixed his technique, or just the lower level of physicality over there helped.

 

[Rod]

Is his tackle technique actually that bad?

I seem to remember him making 25 tackles defending in the middle in Origin as a 20 year old.

Could be a confidence thing I suppose.

 

[HarVeeGee]

He has really bad instincts regarding the way he braces his body for contact.

 

[Burwood]

I forget which commentator on fox it was, but they made the point that, being a fullback, he hasn’t spent his life defending and tackling like he would have if he was playing in the frontline. It’s not natural to him.

 

[Jono078]

I haven’t seen anything but I thought with teams being named today that there would have been a Ponga update.

As far as I know he hasn’t had any bad symptoms since being knocked out?

Would love to know what’s going on behind the scenes.

 

[Mr_Knightside]

It’s very concerning that we’ve heard nothing since the incident occurred. If it were good news the club would be eager to do a press release about it.

 

[slotmachine]

I haven’t seen anything but I thought with teams being named today that there would have been a Ponga update.

Recovery Report: Ponga and Elliott updates

In this week's Recovery Report, the nib Newcastle Knights squad has been assessed ahead of our Round 4 match against the Canberra Raiders this Sunday.

www.newcastleknights.com.au

 

[Jono078]

Recovery Report: Ponga and Elliott updates

In this week's Recovery Report, the nib Newcastle Knights squad has been assessed ahead of our Round 4 match against the Canberra Raiders this Sunday.

www.newcastleknights.com.au

Not much of an update but prob as expected this point in time.

Surely there's a better update within the next week

 

[macavity]

Had a chat with one of the players today, and there is no timeline on Ponga coming back. All very worried about him.

They are really high on Tom Cant, young but a natural leader. Great to hear.

 

[Jono078]

Had a chat with one of the players today, and there is no timeline on Ponga coming back. All very worried about him.

They are really high on Tom Cant, young but a natural leader. Great to hear.

The timeline thing is odd, and I suppose always will be with this kind of thing.

But I mean he’s either good to go or isn’t. I know they say time is the best thing for this but why can’t they measure that and say ok it’s 6 weeks off then he can return?

Or is Ponga actually considering his career day by day?

My total unprofessional opinion is 1-2 months off and then if it happens again soon after and innocuously, that’ll be the time to strongly consider giving this gig up.