Team 2025

[Yosh]

I believe KPP is being used out of position. Let's get him on the right and getting early ball so he SBW it.

 

[Knight Tales]

I feel the club’s anxiety to get Kalyn a side he needs to excel beyond where we are currently at, has gone up several notches. No one will admit it publicly, but they all know the clock is ticking. He is in the cusp of greatness now. And there is an anger and drive in him we have not seen before. The apathy is gone. He wants titles. He wants SOO shields. He is about legacy now.

 

[TooheysNew]

I feel the club’s anxiety to get Kalyn a side he needs to excel beyond where we are currently at, has gone up several notches. No one will admit it publicly, but they all know the clock is ticking. He is in the cusp of greatness now. And there is an anger and drive in him we have not seen before. The apathy is gone. He wants titles. He wants SOO shields. He is about legacy now.

What's this based on?

 

[mozza91]

What's this based on?

I heard that the l fat guy on bloke in a bar who calls himself the RL Guru *cringes reckons he’ll go to Chooks. I don’t know if he has any actual evidence though.

 

[Burwood]

Evidence? The guy said that they’ll use Keary’s, Manu’s and JWH’s money to sign Ponga in 2028. It was laughable.

 

[perverse]

Honestly they were just speculating. It's not like they were discussing it as a scoop. The topic of conversation was whether Ponga will look to move on from the Knights if he doesn't feel close to a premiership by the end of this contract. The general consensus was that he probably would leave, and that the Roosters might be a likely destination.

I tend to agree with them, but it's 100% pure speculation and just thinking out loud - as it was on the podcast too.

 

[mozza91]

It probably won’t be the case in a few years time because they’ll buy the talent but in 2025 the Roosters are about the same chance of winning a comp as we are, basically f**k all.

 

[Woody90]

Honestly they were just speculating. It's not like they were discussing it as a scoop. The topic of conversation was whether Ponga will look to move on from the Knights if he doesn't feel close to a premiership by the end of this contract. The general consensus was that he probably would leave, and that the Roosters might be a likely destination.

I tend to agree with them, but it's 100% pure speculation and just thinking out loud - as it was on the podcast too.

Honestly all it serves to do though is stress fans out without any basis, just to get hits through a “controversial take”. I like the Bloke podcast but honestly this is no better than Danny Wilder asking Ponga 2 weeks ago if he was going to the Roosters and he had the biggest WTF look on his face.

Knights fans know Ponga will look to leave if he can’t see a premiership here, the club also knows this…why is everyone in the media acting like this is something we need to suddenly be considering? All I’ve heard over the media for the past two days is how the knights need to sign a half to help him out, but not one has made a suggestion on who we should target. On 360 they actually acknowledged there weren’t really any options for us. We criticise the club a lot but ffs, they’ve brought in the best recruitment officer in the game and have tapped a large amount of the squad on the shoulder, despite receiving a lot of criticism, including a junior who was probably the only shining light of our spoon years and a previous captain. This is something they’re clearly not messing around or not caring about. All anyone in the media ever talks about is Ponga, but Saifiti and Brailey in particular have obviously been extremely cared about within the club for a long time, so making the decision in moving them on wouldn’t have been easy.

I feel like we can’t even enjoy having a once in a generation player at the club because even 3 years out from his contract ending, all people want us to do is focus on how well likely lose him soon. It’s bullshit. If the club weren’t clearing making moves to fix the roster it would be different, but on one hand they’re criticising us for not having a good squad around Ponga but in another breath criticising the club for moving others on to fix the roster. Deadset can’t win.

 

[Apey]

I'd probably cancel my membership if we lost the Pong. Not that he's bigger than the club or anything, I'd still follow the team and watch every game, but I'm not paying money to watch a Ponga-less Knights "play" football. He's worth more to us than just his on-field abilities, he puts bums on seats and gets us exposure we would only dream of otherwise.

We will do everything we can to keep him here when his contract is up, but we will also have to be wary about not f**king our cap further. We already know what the key will be, to put a team around him that makes him feel like he can win a Premiership here. Let's hope we're heading in the right direction, it feels like it.

I wouldn't begrudge him leaving though. It'd be funny to see the 180 some fans of other teams would do if he became available. If he went to the Roosters of all clubs I might just quit the sport. f**k that, lol. I'd take up AFL before I watch him win a comp for them.

 

[The Axe of Druss]

Honestly all it serves to do though is stress fans out without any basis, just to get hits through a “controversial take”. I like the Bloke podcast but honestly this is no better than Danny Wilder asking Ponga 2 weeks ago if he was going to the Roosters and he had the biggest WTF look on his face.

Knights fans know Ponga will look to leave if he can’t see a premiership here, the club also knows this…why is everyone in the media acting like this is something we need to suddenly be considering? All I’ve heard over the media for the past two days is how the knights need to sign a half to help him out, but not one has made a suggestion on who we should target. On 360 they actually acknowledged there weren’t really any options for us. We criticise the club a lot but ffs, they’ve brought in the best recruitment officer in the game and have tapped a large amount of the squad on the shoulder, despite receiving a lot of criticism, including a junior who was probably the only shining light of our spoon years and a previous captain. This is something they’re clearly not messing around or not caring about. All anyone in the media ever talks about is Ponga, but Saifiti and Brailey in particular have obviously been extremely cared about within the club for a long time, so making the decision in moving them on wouldn’t have been easy.

I feel like we can’t even enjoy having a once in a generation player at the club because even 3 years out from his contract ending, all people want us to do is focus on how well likely lose him soon. It’s bullshit. If the club weren’t clearing making moves to fix the roster it would be different, but on one hand they’re criticising us for not having a good squad around Ponga but in another breath criticising the club for moving others on to fix the roster. Deadset can’t win.

It's a podcast mate. Take it easy

 

[Woody90]

It's a podcast mate. Take it easy

The podcast was just one example of it. Every single journo is bringing it up hence the frustration.

 

[Burwood]

The podcast was just one example of it. Every single journo is bringing it up hence the frustration.

95% of news articles these days follow the exact same pattern: with the 24/7 news cycle, a personality on NRL 360, a podcast or Twitter needs engaging content to fill their programs, leading them into having “hot takes” or “controversy corner” segments etc.

Journalists then report on this as though it is actual news.

Rinse, repeat.

 

[Knight Tales]

If we recruit a top four capable team KP stays. It is that simple. And that is a major reason why O’Sullivan is here. If he believes he can win comp every season, he has zero reason to consider going elsewhere.
My point about the alleged anxieties around KP’s restlessness would be that if apathy sets in then he will have reason to go.

 

[Yosh]

Some people here think Ponga owes some something. He has every right to leave if we don't put a proper team around him. He has every right to go to a Roosters or whoever for much less than he is on now and go win what he wants. That's his choice.

He wasn't putting his football first for a couple of seasons but that looks over. He has matured and is looking like a real leader out there. Look at Latrell, he is still causing issues at his age. We are lucky that Ponga has knucked down and is looking to win.

We have a major clear out happening as soon as O'Sullivan arrived which is just amazing. Our backline looks set, the forwards are able but we need a game managing halfback and one more player who provides points for the team. I don't think we are that far off.

If we sign Moses for example, I think that's a signing that'll catapult us into the top 4 easily without other major signings.

 

[Old dog]

Pie in the sky. What we need is a dominant 7, none available 2025, so that Ponga can cut back and make his attacks more selective, his current form is brilliant but is limited by human capabilities, he gets tired like everyone else especially if he is the likely attacking vanguard.
i don’t know how often it has to be pointed out he needs others helping.
We all rave about Andrew Johns, brilliant but he did have others performing around him that eased the pressure, we need the same for Ponga, a good 7 will fix it anything less wont

 

[Rod]

i don’t know how often it has to be pointed out he needs others helping.

I don't think anyone here thinks otherwise.

 

[Woody90]

Pie in the sky. What we need is a dominant 7, none available 2025, so that Ponga can cut back and make his attacks more selective, his current form is brilliant but is limited by human capabilities, he gets tired like everyone else especially if he is the likely attacking vanguard.
i don’t know how often it has to be pointed out he needs others helping.
We all rave about Andrew Johns, brilliant but he did have others performing around him that eased the pressure, we need the same for Ponga, a good 7 will fix it anything less wont

I don’t think the style we play in a lot of games helps with this either. I thought our game against the Titans was our best attacking performance of the year - people will say it’s because they can’t defend, but the following week Panthers didn’t manage more than a couple of tries against them.

In that game we played away from Ponga a bit, the forwards were linking up and creating opportunities across the park. In the last 2 games of the season however we reverted back to Kalyn ball for whatever reason.

We definitely need a new half to take the pressure off, that’s not negotiable, but AOB (or Green or whoever does the attacking game plans) also needs to change up the style. We did much better in attack last year playing more of a team game even with the limited halves.

 

[Knight Tales]

The eliminator in NQ is the best first half performance by this club under AOB for me. It was the performance we have waited five years for. Just relentless forward movement and matching a mobile side set for set, and effectively. Fatigue killed us after the Gags dropped ball. But the fact it was that which beat us should be drilled in all off season.

 

[Old dog]

According to the Stats some of our bench didn’t play big minutes, unaware of injuries, Jones played 52min, Croker 31min, Hetherington 24min and Gamble 15min. Except for Jones those are low so might have contributed to fatigue,

 

[Knight Tales]

If Hetho cannot see he has a golden opportunity to nail down the vacant front row spot, then there is no hope for him. He is actually the perfect age now to have a solid final third of his career and become the player we have been led to believe he is. If he holds off J Saf from a starting berth then it is no brainer to move J Saf on when the time arrives. Hopgood hopefully shows he is up to it in a few years.