Ponga Appreciation Thread.

[Jono078]

My favourite is people saying that he's ruined the rest of the team's attitude by coming back into the side. How though??? You're telling me that the inclusion of one player has caused 16 other players to suddenly develop a shit attitude? Even if that were true it probably says a lot more about the rest of the squad (not referring to Fritz or Gagai here) than it does Ponga. They're professional players FFS. They should go into every game with the right attitude regardless of who else is in the side.

We were soft second half of the Penrith game and start of Cowboys too and Ponga wasn't even on the field. Our attitude for the entirety of 2022 was shocking too and he played what, 6 games? As horrible as his individual game was last night, it's ridiculous to say he's somehow responsible for ruining the rest of the players attitudes.

I actually wish that were true and he was our major issue as it would be so easy to fix by just removing him.

You're not wrong, but team chemistry is absolutely a real thing - and it's not just limited to sports.

An individual can absolutely disrupt what has been built between a certain group. Yes they're professionals and it shouldn't happen but it is a very real thing.

I'm not even saying that is what's occurred but I wouldn't completely discount it either.

 

[Woody90]

You're not wrong, but team chemistry is absolutely a real thing - and it's not just limited to sports.

An individual can absolutely disrupt what has been built between a certain group. Yes they're professionals and it shouldn't happen but it is a very real thing.

I'm not even saying that is what's occurred but I wouldn't completely discount it either.

Even if it was the case it really should't be. Understandable the structures are impacted, but to let their own effort areas be impacted by the inclusion of a single player just isn't good enough for professional players. Wouldn't see it happening at the top clubs.

Again though I don't think it's the case, more a coincidence.

 

[HarVeeGee]

Obviously KP had a bad game, but Kurt had as bad a game as I’ve ever seen from an NRL player.

Mann’s first 15 minutes went something like throwing the pass at Crokes head for the knock on, missing the tackle on the goal line in the next set for the first try, running off the line and leaving the gap for Moses to score the second try, and missing the tackle in the lead up to Gutho dropping it before the goal line. As the half went on he was left in the dust two metres behind the play the ball after seemingly every tackle, and he was at fault for the break which led to the try which ended the game as a contest too.

Few players covered themselves in glory, but if you’re gonna point to a single player as the cause of everything which went wrong, Kurt is the best candidate, not KP.

KP isn’t ever likely to be the kind of defender who puts out fires on his own, like Gagai(!!!) has surprisingly been for us this season, but most of our outside men had a difficult night defensively. Problems out wide usually stem from losing the battle in the middle, and boy did we lose that battle badly.

 

[Spot On]

The touch footy skills are strong with the Pong.

How was he made captain?

 

[Haffa]

How was he made captain?

Gardner special, surely.

 

[Loose Cannon]

The touch footy skills are strong with the Pong.

How was he made captain?

Gardner took the dummy.

Money, captaincy, interest, work ethic.

Peter Parr’s employment was an admission 6 months too late, but 3 years in the public domain.

 

[Woody90]

The touch footy skills are strong with the Pong.

How was he made captain?

They probably thought it would entice him to stay at the club.

Which highlights how little they know about what makes him tick. They should have just said he could run the club’s social media accounts haha.

 

[Jono078]

Ponga has only won 3/16 of his last games with us (I'm not including the Tigers win this year), for a win rate of 18.75%.

Sorry, just a stat I noticed when looking up his goal kicking %, which actually isn't as bad as I thought. He kicked at over 82% in 2019. 80% last year too.

 

[Mr Angry]

I have never seen a player so badly coached with such sycophants around him.

He is not a leaders arse, but is an asset

Needs to be guider better, IMO, both on and off the field.

 

[Apey]

I don't think he'll ever be what we want him to be, he doesn't have the love of the game for it. He can and still needs to be better though.

 

[perverse]

I don't think he'll ever be what we want him to be, he doesn't have the love of the game for it. He can and still needs to be better though.

Yeah we seem to talk about it year after year. Nothing has changed in that respect, but he can be better.

 

[TooheysNew]

One thing has changed. He's now nearing 1.5 mill a season.

 

[Old dog]

As has been said many times he isn’t a student of the game, he seems to lack the passion for anything to do with football except play, everything else is going through the motions. Unfortunately no incentives to become more involved, he will get his money no matter how well he or team go. Probably near the worst signing we have made based on too many injuries/missed games, cost and length of contract and disappointment to fan expectations

 

[Apey]

I'm sure it must be frustrating for some players, your 'tries hard' players - to see someone with ridiculous amount of talent but lacking a real desire. They'd kill to have that talent. You can tell it frustrates Joey too, we all know Ponga is the #1 guy he is talking about when he complains about players not even watching other games, lol.

 

[Frederick]

I'm sure it must be frustrating for some players, your 'tries hard' players - to see someone with ridiculous amount of talent but lacking a real desire. They'd kill to have that talent. You can tell it frustrates Joey too, we all know Ponga is the #1 guy he is talking about when he complains about players not even watching other games, lol.

He's the Kyrgios of league - all the talent, zero f**ks to go with it

 

[HarVeeGee]

As has been said many times he isn’t a student of the game, he seems to lack the passion for anything to do with football except play, everything else is going through the motions. Unfortunately no incentives to become more involved, he will get his money no matter how well he or team go. Probably near the worst signing we have made based on too many injuries/missed games, cost and length of contract and disappointment to fan expectations

Ponga is a big part of the reason a bunch of other star players have signed up with us since we nabbed him, so I don’t think you can say he’s been a bad signing let alone one of the worst.

 

[alexwilliams_66692007]

He's the Kyrgios of league - all the talent, zero f**ks to go with it

Perfect comparison.

 

[perverse]

Ponga is a big part of the reason a bunch of other star players have signed up with us since we nabbed him, so I don’t think you can say he’s been a bad signing let alone one of the worst.

He's a complex issue, and it's been amplified by the fact that we actually got a pair of somewhat functional halves in Hastings and Gamble. I don't think anyone was probably expecting Gamble to kick on quite as well as he has. It should be a good problem for us to have, but somehow we're turning it into a nightmare.

No matter which way we cut it - we're financially invested in Kalyn up to our eyeballs... and it's a bit absurd to throw the baby out with the bathwater after a shit game. He does need to be given time, whether we like it or not. I (and others I'm sure) were pretty clear in saying we expect a step backwards from the team when Kalyn comes back in the interest of trying to take 2 or 3 steps forward in the longer term. It's a little harder to hold that opinion when you stare a game like the Parra game right in the eyes, but I think we're locked in for a while for better or worse.

At the end of the day, we laid a plan out in front of us and can't really jump ship after the first big wave unsteadies us. We have to see it through for a while yet... or otherwise we're just doing more reactionary shit that we'll whinge about in another 12 months time.

Our biggest mistake remains making him captain. He should never have been captain. He isn't a captain.

 

[Jono078]

One thing has changed. He's now nearing 1.5 mill a season.

And he's arguably regressed since the first contract he signed with us.

Part of me really wishes he went to the Dolphins last year. The writing was on the wall that he was a bigger risk than reward - based on the head knocks and how his performances at fullback were trending (not returning the ball, catching on his backside, poor last line of defense tackle attempts etc).

Not to harp on it as I see no point in speaking on the past.. but just imagine if we let Pearce go at the right time and signed Nicho Hynes and then let Ponga go last year.. We'd have a war chest to sign some really solid players to fill out our squad.

As has been said above though, we've invested in him and need to hope he can get back to his Origin form of last year, because he actually came back from that with a very different attitude for us and it was looking very promising.

 

[mozza91]

Double