"14TH: KNIGHTS — What is the fix to halves ‘rut’ and could it involve a Ponga switch?
Right now, the biggest question for the Knights is whether they sit Kalyn Ponga for the rest of the year. All signs point towards the answer being yes at this stage.
It is unfortunate timing as it may have denied Newcastle a chance to experiment with its halves situation ahead of next season.
Newcastle has already tried playing Ponga at five-eighth before but was quick to revert the 24-year-old back to fullback, where he has spent the majority of his career.
Ponga shut down talk of a permanent move to five-eighth at the end of last year, telling reporters he “put that to bed” and would prefer to “work at my craft at the back”.
But as The Daily Telegraph’s David Riccio argued, it could be the answer to Newcastle’s halves headache, which has only deepened since Mitchell Pearce’s exit.
“[The Knights need to move Ponga] to get out of this rut they’ve been in in and around the halves,” Riccio said on Triple M.
“We saw all the headlines over summer in relation to going after Luke Brooks. We saw Anthony Milford picked up mid-year, they’ve played Phoenix Crossland, Jake Clifford. It’s just been this high rotation of similar style and standard players. They’ve got a $1.1 million fullback.”
Riccio went on to argue that some of the league’s best teams — the Panthers, Sharks and Cowboys — have all succeeded this year without big-money fullbacks.
A player like Dylan Edwards could be just what Newcastle needs — a solid, dependable fullback with a strong running game who can also organise the defensive line.
After all, the Knights are more likely to find that sort of a player for less money on the open market than a genuine difference-maker in the halves to replace Anthony Milford.
Now, that is easier said than done given the fact it is so late and there are few quality fullbacks still left on the market.
One left-field target for 2024 though could be Manly’s Reuben Garrick, who has proven himself an impressive fill-in for Tom Trbojevic and is off-contract at the end of 2023.
Of course, there are calls for Newcastle to put greater emphasis on its pathways system and developing the answer in the halves, but that will take time.
In the short-term, Riccio said moving Ponga to five-eighth could be worth considering ahead of next year.
“For the structure of your salary cap, I’m a firm believer the Knights have to move Kalyn Ponga to five-eighth,” Riccio added.
“We’ve seen fullbacks make that transition and Ponga has played five-eighth in the past. The more times Kalyn Ponga touches the footy, the more devastating the Knights are. Everything revolves around Kalyn but at fullback he is waiting for the footy.”
That is not something Newcastle can experiment with for the rest of the season, but coach Adam O’Brien can keep it in mind as the club works out what the halves picture looks like next year.
Milford’s departure leaves Adam Clune, Jake Clifford and Phoenix Crossland as options in while the Knights have been heavily linked to Tigers’ halfback Luke Brooks.
Brooks though has struggled to consistently assert himself at the Tigers and may be more suited to playing at five-eighth. He will also cost a fair bit to bring over anyway, which only adds more weight to the idea of going for a cheaper fullback instead.
Not everyone agrees that moving Ponga is the right move though, with Queensland teammate Christian Welch telling Triple M that would take away one of his most “underrated” qualities.
“You look at Ponga in Origin,” he said.
“His ability to get sets going, his ability to beat that first defender and get some ruck speed going for the wingers to come onto the ball the next day is highly underrated.”
As is the situation with Fifita and the Titans, it may instead be a case of being smarter in the way they use Ponga. Playing without him for the rest of the season could force Newcastle to do just that, finding ways to score without being overly reliant on Ponga doing it all himself.
Roosters coach Trent Robinson delivered a home truth in that regard after their win over the Knights, telling reporters: “As soon as Kalyn went off, you sort of knew that they were going to struggle on their creativity on the back of any opportunities they got”.
So, for the rest of the season, O’Brien and the Knights need to find creativity elsewhere while working out what their first-choice halves pairing could look like next year."
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