Canberra shut down Newcastle 17-10 as Kalyn Ponga again struggles at five-eighth
Canberra showed plenty of toughness to down the Knights 17-10 but the biggest story out of the match will be Kalyn Ponga’s continued struggles at five-eighth.
Raiders
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Nathan Brown did not want to commit that Kalyn Ponga would be back playing fullback next week in the wake of a 17-10 defeat to Canberra.
But if Brown needs any confirmation the Ponga five-eighth experiment must end now he only has to look back on the final 20 minutes to realise how much more dangerous the Knights were after Ponga’s mid-match switch.
After entering the season with so much expectation riding on them, the Knights are now one win from three games and decision day is looming ahead of next Sunday’s clash against St George Illawarra.
PONGA MUST BE NO 1
In 2018 Ponga was the NRL’s most exciting player bar none.
Right now he looks like a run-of-the-mill five-eighth.
Ponga is yet to score a try in three games and at halftime his statistics told the story. Ponga went to the sheds with just two runs for seven metres and had made seven tackles, with three missed tackles.
After a lacklustre first half, Brown eventually made the change, moving Kurt Mann to partner Mitchell Pearce in the halves.
And it was really only after that the Knights looked at their threatening best.
In fairness to Brown, it was a brave call backing Ponga who wanted to play five-eighth this year.
But Brown also said he was not too stubborn to say he won’t change.
“I’d rather watch the game again first. I don’t want to come out and make some sort of statement,” Brown said.
“KP has to play a part in it.
“We did have a conversation about it this week.
“I (also) sat down with Junior (Pearce) and had a chat, ‘is this the time we have to make the change with Connor (Watson) injured?’
“Everyone was keen to keep pushing with it.
“But there comes a time when the coach has got to make the decision as well.”
BATEMAN THE REAL DEAL
You could have picked a stack of players as the Raiders’ best. Fill-in halfback Sammy Williams got Ricky Stuart’s vote, and in the first half Josh Hodgson was enormous, setting up one try and only bad luck cost him two more try assists.
But as good as the halfback and hooker were, this rugged English backrower John Bateman is fast winning a reputation in Canberra as a fair dinkum Superman.
Despite the fact Bateman only weighs 96kg, which would make him among the NRL’s lightest backrowers, he is a wrecking ball on a football field.
When Stuart initially signed Bateman there were plenty of raised eyebrows given the Raiders’ back-row depth with the likes of Joe Tapine, Elliott Whitehead and Josh Papalii all internationals.
But after three games Bateman has already proven he is going to be a genuine X-factor this year as one of four Poms in the Canberra side that also includes Elliott Whitehead and Ryan Sutton.
“I don’t want to show any bias here but I love the four Pommies I have got,” Stuart said.
“They are footy players.
“And there is a difference between certain footy players and other footy players.
“Some have to win. Some try.”
RICKY’S DILEMMA
Given Stuart said Williams was his man of the match, you can only wonder where that leaves Aidan Sezer if the regular halfback return from injury in time for next week’s clash against North Queensland.
On this performance it would be hard to drop Williams who finished with a try, came up with the match-clinching field goal and his general play kicking was solid all night.
But the part of his game that most pleased his coach was Williams’ defensive effort after going head-to-head with Ponga.
JOEY’S BRAINSNAP
Will Joey Leilua ever learn?
The Raiders centre took exception to something Tim Glasby did in the closing stages and the end result was Leilua gave a penalty while in possession near his own tryline.
Ultimately the Raiders showed enough desperation to fight their way out of the trouble.
But no matter what Glasby did to upset him, Leilua should not have reacted.
CANBERRA 17 (C Nicoll-Klokstad 2 S Williams tries J Croker 2 goals S Williams field goal) bt NEWCASTLE 10 (S Kenny-Dowall J Ramien tries K Ponga goal) at GIO Stadium. Referee: Jon Stone, Tim Roby. Crowd: 10,585.
Originally published as Canberra shut down Newcastle 17-10 as Kalyn Ponga again struggles at five-eighth
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