NRL News: Cowboys make major signing, Aloiai backs V'landys' Respect Round, Johns says Ponga can 'be a Benji'

Todd Payten will coach North Queensland until at least the end of 2026 after signing a three-year contract extension with the NRL club.

Payten orchestrated a miraculous turnaround at the Cowboys after a 15th-place finish and just seven wins in his first season in charge in 2021.

A year later, he took the Cowboys to a record-equalling 17 wins as they finished the 2022 campaign in third place.

His contract was set to finish at year’s end and the extension recognises Payten for successfully rebuilding the side and developing the Cowboys’ young talent.

(Photo by Ian Hitchcock/Getty Images)

Chairman Lewis Ramsay said the three-year deal was “just reward for the vision, passion and dedication” Payten had shown in the role.

The 44-year-old was an assistant at the Cowboys when they won their maiden premiership in 2015.

He moved to New Zealand Warriors in an assistant role in 2018 and two years later rose to his first NRL head coaching gig as Stephen Kearney’s interim replacement.

Later in 2020 he struck a three-year agreement to coach the Cowboys and return to north Queensland.

“North Queensland is our home,” Payten said.

“The first 12 months were lean in terms of results, but we are starting to see the rewards of some decisions we made during that 2021 season around blooding young players. 

“Coupled with the elite talent we have in our squad, I am confident we are heading into a truly exciting time at this club.

“I always had an ambition to come back to this club and I have no desire to be anywhere else.”

Aloiai sees Respect all Round

Josh Aloiai was one of the seven Manly players who controversially refused to wear an “inclusivity jersey” last year but he is lending his support to the possibility of a “Respect Round” in the NRL.

Aloiai, who claimed in the off-season he had “nothing but respect” for the LGBTQIA+ community despite the jersey boycott, has back an idea floated recently by ARL Commission chairman Peter V’landys to stage a “Respect Round” to support everyone’s beliefs.

The prop was one of seven Sea Eagles along with Josh Schuster, Jason Saab, Christian Tuipulotu, Haumole Olakau’atu, Tolutau Koula and Toafofoa Sipley, who refused to play in Manly’s home match in Round 20 against the Roosters, which the team lost on the way to a late-season collapse which cost them a chance of making the finals and coach Des Hasler his job.

Aloiai told the Sydney Morning Herald that “I don’t think we’ll be put into that position again” when asked whether he would wear a rainbow jersey if Manly go ahead with the idea in 2023.

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“Peter V’landys has spoken about a Respect Round, and I really like the thought of that. That is true inclusivity. If he goes with that, then of course that’s great,” he told the SMH.

(Photo by Albert Perez/Getty Images)

“I appreciated him reaching out last year. For him to go out of his way, and to make sure we were doing alright and if he could help in any way … obviously things can get crazy. Respect Round makes a lot of sense.”

V’landys said he the plan for a Respect Round was “not a throwaway line”.

“My firm belief in life is everyone is equal, we’re all the same, it doesn’t matter what your sexual preference is, but a Respect Round would include everybody.”

All seven players who sat out last season’s round-20 loss to the Sydney Roosters remain at the club, but Aloiai said the squad had moved on and the issue had not been raised in the pre-season.

“We don’t talk about that,” he said. 

“We’re really positive and we come into training really happy with where we’re going. I feel like we’re on the right trajectory with the right buy in.”

Aloiai also said new coach Anthony Seibold had united the playing group, something he said was evidenced in their pre-season challenge title win.

(Photo by Paul Kane/Getty Images)

“Just change in general can be really refreshing,” Aloiai said.

“Seibs has come in with a real focus to unite the group and bring us together. And I dare say we are closer than we have ever been. 

“You can see it in the day-to-day. We’re rock solid, and you see bits and pieces of that in the trials.

“Seibs’ mentality to come in and galvanise the group has been a really good approach. It’s been a really big positive for us.

Johns sees Benji in Ponga

Premiership-winning Newcastle legend Matthew Johns believes Kalyn Ponga can “be a Benji” and develop into one of the all-time great five-eighths – if the Knights keep the faith.

Johns is adamant Newcastle’s NRL top-eight chances in 2023 hinge on the Knights giving Ponga sufficient time to make a successful transition from fullback to the second receiver role.

Former Knights mentor Nathan Brown aborted a similar operation just three games into the 2019 season and Johns is urging coach Adam O’Brien to hold his nerve even if the experiment doesn’t again pay immediate dividends.

“It will take a bit of time. You’ve got to persevere,” Johns told AAP. “And at times they’ve got to find a way to, hiding him is not the right word,  but finding a way that he doesn’t make 40 tackles a game because that’s what opposition teams are going to try to do.

“He needs a little bit of protection. You might defend him in the centres a bit. Not that he can’t tackle, it’s just that you don’t want to be burning his petrol.”

Clint Gutherson is tackled by Kalyn Ponga. (Photo by Matt King/Getty Images)

Darren Lockyer and Benji Marshall both made the successful switch from fullback to become Golden Boot winners as world players of the year.

Johns sees a lot of Marshall, in particular, in Ponga.

“He’s so classy,” he said.

“And Benji, when Benji was a young guy, he was just a pure runner who played a bit of fullback, just a freakish player like Kalyn, who really ended up being one of the great sixes.

“Now I don’t want to sound like a broken record but of course if you tell me that Kalyn’s going to have a good season, and plays 20-plus games, then I’m thinking we can fall into seventh or eighth. Around that bottom part (of the top eight).

“I’m a lot more optimistic than I was last year.

“Last year I saw a lot of injuries. I thought their roster was a little bit out of whack. This year they’ve stiffened themselves up a little bit in certain areas. There’s a bit more depth in key areas.”

Most significantly, Johns believes Newcastle’s luring of former Australian sevens star Lachie Miller from Cronulla to play fullback is a key to Ponga staying – and thriving – at five-eighth.

“I really liked what he did last year. He suits the way the game has gone,” said Johns, Newcastle’s greatest ever No.6. “Traditionally, the way we think about the game, all the space is on the edges.

“But now the way the game has gone with the speed of the rucks, space is all through the middle. So he’s a kid who just suits where the game is going. With Newcastle, if you’ve got Locky going through the middle, then you’ve got Kalyn coming off the back of it, then that’s a big threat.

“At the moment, I can just see they’re working out the nuances of all the combinations but I think they’ll be a successful one. Locky’s a really good buy.”