In what is a rinse and repeat of 12 months ago, Knights superstar Kalyn Ponga will enter the NRL finals series as the in form player in the competition.
Last year, the Knights went on a magical run in the last third of the season, winning nine straight games to jump up from 14th at the end of Round 17 to finish the year in 5th.
Ponga’s play was a massive reason why, and that was reflected in the Dally M voting, when the fullback produced a Winx-like burst to the finish line to miraculously chase down the unlucky Shaun Johnson.
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While not quite on the same scale as last season’s heroics, Newcastle have won four of their last five games – including their last three – to sneak into eighth, and once again, Ponga’s fingerprints are all over the recent success.
Since a heartbreaking one point loss to Cronulla in Round 24, the Knights have had to treat every game as a knockout final. One misstep and they would have been in the midst of Mad Monday celebrations right now.
At $51, Newcastle are the rank outsiders with bookies, but that price is overs if Ponga continues his stellar form over the next few weeks.
The Knights’ win over the Dolphins last Sunday to snare eighth has now set up a mouth-watering showdown with the North Queensland Cowboys on Saturday night – the club Ponga had his introduction to the NRL before sensationally walking out of to join Newcastle.
As the star fullback said once the Cowboys-Knights fixture was confirmed: “It’s going to be a challenge for us. The Cows have threats everywhere, they’re dangerous. I have some good mates in that team and it’s finals footy so there is a lot to be excited about.”
Game on!
Ponga leads Newcastle into finals | 02:30
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ANOTHER SENSATIONAL RUN
At the moment, seemingly everything in attack for the Knights is going through Ponga.
Both of Newcastle’s tries last Sunday were quite similar essentially came from nothing, with Ponga freewheeling close to the line and drifting across the field before creating space and putting one of his forwards through a gaping hole to score.
Knights coach Adam O’Brien says that ad lib style of footy has been one of Ponga’s real strengths of late.
“That was the stuff Kalyn came up for us. Those in between moment tries and yeah really proud of his whole season, in particular his last month where he’s been excellent for us,” O’Brien said.
“You don’t want to sound like a broken record but Ponga, well I wouldn’t say he was the difference because the Knights were really, really good,” Matty Johns said on Sunday Night with Matty Johns before Nathan Hindmarsh interjected: “You could say he was the difference as he was in absolutely everything.”
It was his fifth straight game with either a try or try assist, and in those five games, Ponga has either scored or set up over half of Newcastle’s 138 points they’ve recorded in that span.
Last season’s run was even more incredible.
Including a Week 1 finals win over Canberra, the Knights won ten straight games, one behind the club record of 11. It was also the first postseason win from the Knights since 2013, and Ponga’s first in a Newcastle jersey.
Below is a snapshot of the form Ponga has finished the last two seasons in:
Last 5 games of 2023 season – 33 tackle busts, 737 run metres (147.4 per game), seven line breaks, seven try assists, eight line break assists, 58 points.
Last 5 games of 2024 season – 41 tackle busts, 674 run metres (134.8 per game), six line breaks, five try assists, eight line break assists, 50 points.
It’s worth noting that the Knights were a more potent attacking side 12 months ago than they are now, but it’s clear they are a grittier side and a much more resolute defensively, which may lend itself well to a deep finals assault.
BOUNCING BACK
Much has been made on how Ponga was able to not only return from near-retirement due to the several issues he’s had with concussions, but perform as well as he has.
That in itself has been some sort of achievement, but Ponga has also been able to bounce back from an incident which could have derailed his career in 2022.
In August of that year, Ponga and then-Knights teammate Kurt Mann were escorted out of a toilet stall in a pub in Newcastle on the same night the club lost to the Broncos in Brisbane.
Ponga’s father Andre told The Daily Telegraph Kalyn was celebrating after buying a house and was “sick in the toilet and his mate went in to help him”, an excuse which was widely panned by fans and journalists.
Both players were sidelined with injury at the time, but it was an extremely poor look that embarrassed the club and wasn’t well received by fans.
Veteran journalist Phil Rothfield said on an episode of NRL360 this week that seeing the way Ponga has recaptured the hearts of Knights supporters.
“Ponga is a terrific story,” Rothfield said.
“Last time I went up there, he’d just been through that toilet cubicle incident. I’m telling you where he’s come from. They were dirty on him the fans, and he was out injured at the time.
“In that crowd yesterday, he was like Wally Lewis at Suncorp and fallen back in love with him. Whenever he is playing like that, it will take a brave man to say they can’t go deep into the finals.
“When he touches that football, they don’t get to their feet but you can feel the excitement. I’m not saying he’s ever going to be Joey Johns in that city, but he’s going to be the next best thing in that town.”
“He was hungry. He was pumping up the crowd, pumping up the team. He wanted that. It shows how much the team and town means to him,” NRL360 co-host Braith Anasta added.
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BACK WHERE IT ALL BEGAN
Saturday night’s clash will be the ninth time Ponga has faced his former club since joining the Knights in 2018.
He’s won three of those, but has lost five, including the past three games between the two sides that he’s been apart of.
Way back in 2014, the highly sought after Ponga rejected interest from rugby union and AFL to sign a three-year contract with the Cowboys, linking up with the club as a 17-year-old in 2015.
Over the following three seasons, he would stamp himself as one of the best players to ever lace the boots in the now defunct National Youth Competition (under 20s).
During that time, he would also get a taste of NRL football with the Cowboys, making his debut in an elimination final that North Queensland won against Brisbane in 2016.
Ironically, that would be Ponga’s sole finals win until the Knights defeated Canberra in an elimination final last season.
That offseason following the 2016 season, despite the Cowboys’ confidence in keeping the star teen beyond 2017, a bombshell developed when reports circulated that Ponga would be heading to Newcastle.
Those reports would be confirmed a couple of weeks later.
It was a hammer blow for North Queensland, with club legend Johnathan Thurston telling NRL.com back in 2018 that it was news that was hard to swallow.
“He’s one of the most talented kids I’ve seen come through. He was doing things here that no one else can do,’’ Thurston said.
“He’s very Matty Bowen-like in his footwork and skill level. I was pretty sad to see him go.”
Ponga’s father Andre explained to Fox League last year the reasoning behind the decision.
The Newcastle opportunity was just better than the Cowboys in terms of contract, footy, everything,” Ponga Sr told Fox League last year.
“He was behind Lachlan Coote in Townsville and the chance to play NRL every week was there in Newcastle.”
Coote forged a great five season career with the Cowboys, but just a year after Ponga’s departure, he was Super League-bound.
Unfortunately for the Cowboys, Ponga isn’t the only talented junior and/or player they’ve let slip through the cracks that will feature prominently this finals series.
Bulldogs gun and premiership winner Viliame Kikau spent two seasons with the Cowboys NYC team in 2014 and 2015 while Dally M favourite Jahrome Hughes played one game for North Queensland in 2016.
Ponga’s departure is still one that many Cowboys fans lament. In their eyes, he’s the one that got away.
Those feelings will only grow if the Knights fullback leads his side to an upset win to end the Cowboys’ season in Townsville this weekend.
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