Ponga Appreciation Thread.

[Rod]

They're making it up as they go along and don't have a leg to stand on really. As others have said there's too much precedent for this kind of thing in the past.

If Ponga really wanted to rustle some jimmies he should have 'retired' from rep football and then 'unretired' before next year's Origin series.

 

[Burwood]

This is the TVNZ video which casts doubt over reigning Dally M Medallist Kalyn Ponga’s decision to snub the green and gold Kangaroo jumper.

Does Ponga want to play for Australia or does he want to play for the Kiwis or the All Blacks?

You be the judge.

‘Want to strive for that black jumper’: Ponga video that casts doubt on Kangaroos snub

‘Want to strive for that black jumper’: Ponga video that casts doubt on Kangaroos snub

www.foxsports.com.au

Hooper with the breaking news from a 5.5 year old video- Ponga to union.

It's telling that 95% of fans seem to be in the, "who cares, it's his choice" camp, while 100% of the media are outraged.

 

[perverse]

He's bruised the egos of the people who want to pretend that the international game is relevant. It's that simple. It's old, boomer, conservative, reactionary bullshit.

Let's say they pick him on the bench, he plays, has his head knocked off by an angry post-haka kiwi while playing in the forwards. What's the headline then? That maybe he shouldn't have played if he wasn't to be picked at fullback?

Kalyn can't win. He's a headline magnet. This level of scrutiny, unfortunately, comes with being the best.

 

[Chins get the wins]

He's bruised the egos of the people who want to pretend that the international game is relevant. It's that simple. It's old, boomer, conservative, reactionary bullshit.

Let's say they pick him on the bench, he plays, has his head knocked off by an angry post-haka kiwi while playing in the forwards. What's the headline then? That maybe he shouldn't have played if he wasn't to be picked at fullback?

Kalyn can't win. He's a headline magnet. This level of scrutiny, unfortunately, comes with being the best.

Kalyn can't win because he's not a winner

 

[Yosh]

Apparently Ponga is giving Mal a call today. Hope it gets sorted.

Loved Joey getting heated over this.

 

[Knight Tales]

Kalyn can't win because he's not a winner

Except when he wins a Dally M player of the year. But you would not see us walk in and start criticising Nathan as a player. Low rent behaviour.

 

[Woody90]

Apparently Ponga is giving Mal a call today. Hope it gets sorted.

Just a shame that he’s been bullied into feeling like he needs to make amends when he’s done nothing wrong. It’s just the toxic media and a bunch of old dinosaurs.

 

[perverse]

Kalyn can't win because he's not a winner

Weird that you felt compelled to come in here and say that. Did all this winning turn you into the asshole that you are today, or were you an asshole from way back when you were just as shit as we are?

 

[Apey]

Hmm joined in 2023, seems like a bandwagoner to me. Probably switched teams at some point in his life.

 

[Rod]

Loved Joey getting heated over this.

I assume Joey's take was similar to a couple of other former players that I've seen. I understand why they feel like the Kangaroos should be valued more highly but they need to understand that these issues start at the top, they're not the fault of Kalyn or the players as a collective.

You can't preach about internationals being the pinnacle and then do nothing for that level of the game (in fact, you could argue the NRL not only does nothing for international league, but flat out harms the international game most of the time).

I mean, they didn't even finalize the draw for this end of year tournament until a few weeks ago. Pinnacle of the sport my ass.

 

[mozza91]

Kalyn can't win because he's not a winner

Your mate the chinless Kurt Gidley will get the Kangaroos number 1 jersey thanks to his selfless sacrifice.

 

[Chins get the wins]

Your mate the chinless Kurt Gidley will get the Kangaroos number 1 jersey thanks to his selfless sacrifice.

The world's best fullback will be getting surgery unfortunately. Old man Teddy will keep his spot.....ewww

 

[Knight Tales]

The world's best fullback will be getting surgery unfortunately. Old man Teddy will keep his spot.....ewww

No mate. Kalyn is not injured. We have established this already.

 

[aqua_duck]

‘Want to strive for that black jumper’: Ponga video that casts doubt on Kangaroos snub

‘Want to strive for that black jumper’: Ponga video that casts doubt on Kangaroos snub

www.foxsports.com.au

Hooper with the breaking news from a 5.5 year old video- Ponga to union.

It's telling that 95% of fans seem to be in the, "who cares, it's his choice" camp, while 100% of the media are outraged.

This just shows how much power the media have and how agenda driven the NRL is.
Unfortunately we have an ego driven chairman in PVL who’s absolutely obsessed with optics and media perception and desperately wants to be the godfather of rugby league.
You have some absolute oxygen thieves in the media pushing their own agenda and this gets turned into the biggest issue in the game 2 days before a preliminary final.

 

[Zoidberg]

Just saw 360 and I can’t believe how much this is getting blown out of proportion. Everyone with their say as to why he’s pulled out, from “want’s to play for all blacks” to “just wants to play for QLD not Australia”, when they have no idea what KP is thinking.
I can’t blame him at all. It’s not just a 1 off test (which I would wager he would play) It’s a tournament where players will be on the road and in camp for close to 2 months. And having a squad who knows how much game time you will actually get in that 2 months.

 

[aqua_duck]

Just saw 360 and I can’t believe how much this is getting blown out of proportion. Everyone with their say as to why he’s pulled out, from “want’s to play for all blacks” to “just wants to play for QLD not Australia”, when they have no idea what KP is thinking.
I can’t blame him at all. It’s not just a 1 off test (which I would wager he would play) It’s a tournament where players will be on the road and in camp for close to 2 months. And having a squad who knows how much game time you will actually get in that 2 months.

What would you expect from the dribblers at NRL360, it’s the most agenda driven rubbish on TV.
Let’s lay all the cards on the table here, this narrative was driven by Paul Crawley who has a very public disdain against the knights from when his good friend Wayne Bennett and his brother Michael Crawley left the club, he wrote numerous articles rubbishing the clubs culture when Nathan Brown criticised the state Wayne left the club in.
He was then extra critical of Ponga when Ponga turned down the dolphins and specifically Wayne.
For full disclosure Crawley’s brother Steve (who runs Fox Sports) wrote Wayne Bennett’s biography and his other brother Michael has been an assistant coach under Wayne. To say Paul Crawley has an agenda here would be an understatement, in any other profession someone which obvious and strong conflict of interest would recluse themselves from making comment because they obviously cannot be impartial but at Fox Crawley uses his platform (which he’s been given due to his brother) to continually push his bias agenda against the knights and Ponga.

 

[Woody90]

Just saw 360 and I can’t believe how much this is getting blown out of proportion. Everyone with their say as to why he’s pulled out, from “want’s to play for all blacks” to “just wants to play for QLD not Australia”, when they have no idea what KP is thinking.
I can’t blame him at all. It’s not just a 1 off test (which I would wager he would play) It’s a tournament where players will be on the road and in camp for close to 2 months. And having a squad who knows how much game time you will actually get in that 2 months.

He’ll do one cool thing in round 1 and they’ll all be back waxing lyrical about the bloke and saying he did the right thing
FTR I do think Ponga, the Knights and Andre could have all handled this better, but the complete overreaction and media witch hunt is disgusting. We also don’t know the full context. Crawley in particular needs to be muzzled - his comments that Ponga’s “taking the piss” and the agenda that his statement was a lie because he doesn’t want to play for Aus over NZ may be true, or, he might have mental health problems or somethings else unbeknown, or, he might just genuinely want to focus on the Knights and would prefer to leave a squad spot for someone who’s priority is playing in the series. At least some blokes like Gould and shockingly Buzz are being level headed about this.

Part of the reason it’s blown up is because it’s a genuinely boring last few weeks of the finals series. We’re just killing time essentially to the GF match up that’s been inevitable all season. The final 4 are expected but there’s no underdog team for people to root for. Can guarantee if the bulldogs had have survived longer the media would be going on about them instead and treating this as the non event it is.

 

[Burwood]

The irony in ex-players saying he’s cheapened the jersey because he doesn’t want to play for Australia, and then in the next breath saying that he should have just faked an injury instead to get out of the tournament. His crime is basically telling the truth.

Poor foresight from Newcastle though- they’ve tried to cash in with fans on Ponga’s sentiment by promoting that his focus is on the club and 2025, but completely overlooked the flip side and backlash. Makes you wondered who ultimately pushed for and OK’ed the media release.

 

[Woody90]

Makes you wondered who ultimately pushed for and OK’ed the media release.

Journos reporting that Andre went to the club and had a meeting with Phil Gardner and the outcome of that was that the club needed to put out a press release or Ponga was going to do it himself - how true that is though I don’t know.

I suspect the content of the media release was Ponga’s genuine reasoning (he was praised after all for pulling out of SOO last year to focus on the Knights so probably didn’t expect this was going to happen). The error is that neither the club or Andre have recognised it goes against his contract which is the big f**k up (or they do know of his contract obligations but thought it wouldn’t be an issue as he opted out of SOO last year without any of this drama).

Tbh it’s probably come down to some work experience kid in the PR department asking Ponga for some quotes about why he’s pulling out and nobody’s even noted the contract issues (although should have). Tbh when I first heard it my first reaction was “what a legend KP is” not about any of the crap the media has pulled up.

 

[perverse]

Poor foresight from Newcastle though- they’ve tried to cash in with fans on Ponga’s sentiment by promoting that his focus is on the club and 2025, but completely overlooked the flip side and backlash. Makes you wondered who ultimately pushed for and OK’ed the media release.

This is it. The club wanted to pander to the fans and didn't think twice about how it looked beyond that. Amateur hour.