2019 will be the year of Ponga

Was hoping for more from him in the All Stars game, but have no doubts he'll improve even further at club level once the NRL season kicks off.

Ponga has the vision and hands. His football brain is light years ahead of many of his peers. Ponga can beat a good defender one on one but he is brilliant at engaging two defenders and delivering a perfectly timed pass at the line. His defence is solid but his reading of the game is exceptional. If he stays fit he will be a once in a generation player and someone who entertain thousands of Rugby League fans for many years. How I wish he was still a Cowboy right now.

The "idea" came from Ponga himself. He approached Brown about a possible switch to 5/8 as he thought it might help the team. The final decision for a positional switch was made between Brown, Ponga and Watson. Ponga would kill it in just about position on the field. Freak. I will go out on a limb also and say that barring injury Ponga will finish his RL career as one of the best to lace a boot. His ball playing ability is only just over shadowed by his running game which is something everyone will see this year, and he does have a kicking game although unlike his other attributes is not his strongest point. He'll finish up a Knights legend.

yep, fullback lockyer vs rushing defence on the 5th tackle. It was mind boggling how many times he bamboozled them by running it and setting up a try.

I just have to say that Lockyer pre knee injuries had lightning acceleration.

Yeah the boys an out an out talent , zero doubts there. his demeanor as you say is ice cool so all signs point to something special. I'm just wary is all im saying. slumps can and do happen. If he loses a bit of confidence, that demeanor could change a little and it could just take some time to work around that. Am cautious to heap to much expectation on him. If he has an even stronger year than last year based on consistency I'll be impressed. Best of luck to the kid though, I love watching him play and as a nsw fan he scares the bejesus out of me

He has a footy brain as well as the skills to execute !

Ponga was like a breath of fresh air last year, a dashing new talent bringing life into the Knights after a few dismal seasons. A sensational fullback that brought a wow factor into his games. He displayed enough maturity to have many saying he will be the next big thing in RL. Superlatives rolled off the keyboards of RL journos and forum warriors like us on here. A new fullback star is born...........so what do they do??? Move him to 5/8. I don't know where this idea of moving players from their favoured position comes from. I do know Andrew Johns said in commentary Ponga would make a great 5/8 so maybe it came from there. If a bloke shows enough on the footy paddock to suggest he is a star in the making then why move him. Let him develop his game, become the player many are predicting. If Ponga becomes bogged down in the halves and the gloss has gone from his game what then?

from what i've seen Ponga has very good vision and game smarts for such an inexperienced player. He is more than just speed and a step...

I think being in Newcastle will help that cause. Local support and a level of expectation will be there but, unlike Sydney or Brisbane, he shouldn't have 50 reporters blowing wind up his proverbial everyday about how good they expect him to be.

I am still not sold on Ponga being this mega superstar that everyone is making him out to be. Sure he might turn into a really good player, but he has all the hallmarks of a player that requires his speed and agility to be “good”. If he loses that speed and agility in any way, I am not sure he has much to fall back on. Size will obviously be a problem, and for an AFL convert I haven’t seen much of a kicking game (although that can be rectified). The limited time I have seen him in the defensive line both occasionally as a half in the Cowboys U20 and in the SOO, he has a very front on and upright tackling technique like Hunt and Maloney. That’s not to say it can’t be rectified, Jake Granville is a good case study of a player that completely changed his technique and has turned into very decent small body tackler. His vision, game control and his passing game (I believe his assist/lb ratio is inflated due to his ability to make time and space for himself as a fullback, which in turn provides time and space to his outside backs) is relatively unknown. He might be a very good half, but because he hasn’t spent much time there so far in his career it’s hard to know how he compares to someone like a Jake Clifford or a Kane Elgey who have been specifically developed as playmakers. The modern NRL has a good track record of ‘diminishing returns’ on the players that use lateral movement and speed as their hallmark. Ben Barber, Preston Campbell, Matt Bowen, Anthony Millford. All similar type players who once they lose that time and space (either through a positional change or through injury/age) lost their ability to have a major influence on a match. Were they still good players, yes. But megastars, no. Benji is somewhat an outlier because has had a skilled passing game to match his lateral movement. But even then, he only had two or three really good seasons. All those players had diminishing returns on their longterm value as they lose that time and space. At their best, they could be unstoppable. But all of those players had one, maybe two of “really great, highly voted Dally M years.” Post those years they were still good players, but not great players. And that is my fear for Ponga. Where is the evolution in his game going to come from? I see the constant comparisons to Lockyer, but I personally think that’s a bad comparison. Because unlike Ponga, Lockyer didn’t rely on his agility and he certainly was not fast. He had a very good step, but it was his vision and game smarts that made him a good fullback and even better five eighth. Lockyer didn’t look to beat every player with a sidestep every single time, he waited for the right time on the right player to put the side step on. That was noticeable from the very first moment Lockyer started playing. From what I have seen in Ponga he simply doesn’t have that instinctive nuance.

My worry is the burden of expectation. Marshall never actually became that defining player of the generation he was capable of being partly through injury but also because he played like he was trying to be the messiah rather than just playing what was in front of him. It's a tough burden for the anointed one

I saw a lot of Phil Blake at his best and it was something else. It looked a bit like the other players on the field were in slow motion.

If you have jinxed him Stuart you are going to have thousands of angry Novocastrians on your trail. He is exciting, I'll give you that. Who else in recent memory has burst onto the scene and just looked very very special from the get go? That can break a game to pieces either himself or through setting up supports? Marshall as the author mentions. Fulton as another poster mentions. Brad Fittler as a ridiculously talented teenager springs to mind Steve Mortimer circa 1979 Andrew Johns and Darren Lockyer of course. Matty Bowen? Phil Blake? Greg Alexander won the Rookie of the Year one year and then the Dally M Player of the Year the next, the only player to do so. so he might take the cake.

Bob Fulton, good call. He was that same package who could do it all himself and set up his supports.

yeah it reminds me of Jarryd Hayne again when coaches wanted to make him a 5/8th. Leave Ponga at the back for a few years, maybe switch positions later in his career if it serves the team better.

I wish Brown would leave him at the back. I agree he is one of the most gifted players we have seen and more time with the ball... He is a runner 1st and playmaker 2nd and while very good at both, at FB he can turn up anywhere, start attcking raids from a kick, play off Pearce, jump 1st receiver or float out wide to finish the play. With a permanent role in the front line, he will still do most of that just with the added defensive duties. Further, Brown has to find an alternative FB, (possibly Mann) where they have Watson or Lino ready to pair with Pearce. In other words, Brown is losing more at FB than he gains by moving Ponga into the halves. The Knights have a talented roster, they should have more faith in the team than a 'give it to Ponga' game plan.

I agree busty. Second year syndrome and change of position are challenges for him. There’s a big difference between a one off origin game and a full season in the front line. In some ways the change of position may assist with second year syndrome. Playing a different role will make it harder for opposition coaches to “work him out” (as much as he can be worked out. Knights are going to be great to watch and Ponga will be a big reason.