By Michael Chammas and Chris Barrett
Newcastle powerbrokers have privately raised concerns over the future of Kalyn Ponga at the club following revelations the fullback’s father, Andre, met with a Roosters official at a Sydney hotel a fortnight ago.
The Herald reported on Monday night that the NRL was investigating a third-party deal linked to Ponga that could have salary cap implications for the Knights.
That investigation relates to a third-party agreement (TPA) with Blake Cannavo, a wealthy and influential figure at the Knights who is an advisor to chief executive Phil Gardner.
Knights officials fear an approach to the NRL by Andre Ponga to seek clarity on a number of contractual issues could be the first steps in a plan to extract Kalyn from his Knights deal.
Knights sources with knowledge of the situation who requested anonymity in order to speak freely told this masthead that Gardner recently spotted Andre Ponga having coffee with Roosters recruitment manager Clint Zammit, as part of a regular catch-up, at the Pullman Hotel in Sydney’s CBD.
Zammit, who used to work at the Knights and led the negotiations that led to Ponga extending his contract at the Knights in 2022 until the end of 2027, is a close friend of the Ponga family.
Knights coach Adam O’Brien, Kalyn and Andre Ponga at the 2022 press conference announcing the star’s extension with the club.Credit: Getty
The recruitment manager signed Kalyn Ponga to the North Queensland Cowboys as a teenager and is still in regular dialogue with Andre despite joining the Roosters in 2023.
A senior Roosters official told the Herald on Tuesday night that the club was not attempting to lure Ponga out of his Knights deal and that Zammit had met with Andre Ponga in an unofficial capacity. Newcastle’s recruitment manager Adam Doyle was also seen at the Pullman Hotel with Ponga and Zammit on their way to a junior representative game.
This masthead reported on Monday night that the NRL’s investigation was triggered after questions were raised about whether the TPA was at arm’s length from the club.
The TPA, worth close to $50,000 a year, was struck with Cannavo, a close associate of Gardner, and was agreed in June, 2020 when Ponga extended and upgraded his contract with the Knights. The TPA was meant to run until 2025.
At the time the TPA was agreed, Cannavo had no official role with the club. But in 2023 he began to work closely with Gardner as an advisor and a volunteer with the club’s pathways system.
The Herald can reveal Ponga’s father called a meeting with the Knights a fortnight ago to discuss his son’s contract.
He then requested a meeting with the NRL, which took place alongside Knights officials last Friday, to seek clarity around a ratchet clause in his son’s contract and about the TPA with Cannavo.
Sources with knowledge of the situation who requested anonymity to speak freely told the Herald Andre sought advice from head office on whether Kalyn was still entitled to receive the TPA from 2023 to 2025 after signing a new five-year, $6.7 million contract in April 2022.
The NRL will need to determine whether the TPA became null and void at the point of the new contract being registered with the NRL under fresh conditions, including the removal of a player option included in his previous agreement.
Kalyn and Andre Ponga in Newcastle.Credit: Getty
Following the publication of the Herald’s story on Monday night, Ponga’s father said there was no money outstanding from the deal, with all commitments having been honoured.
In a text message to this masthead on Monday night that Cannavo was copied into, Andre Ponga said he had just spoken with Cannavo on the phone and that “Blake and I have no issues or problems at all and everything’s cosier [sic].”
Fox Sports reported on Tuesday night that Cannavo had made a $250,000 payment to the Pongas in the past 24 hours to settle the issue.
Cannavo strongly rejected suggestions that any payment had been made and that he had fulfilled all his financial obligations.
Kalyn Ponga, of the Newcastle Knights, after winning the 2023 NRL Dally M Medal.Credit: Getty Images
“No money was ever owed,” Cannavo told the Herald. “The third party finished on the 5th of April, 2022 when the new contract was on foot and no payment has been made as per the story released on Fox Sports tonight. The story written stating that I had paid the Pongas $250,000 today is completely false.”
The Herald first attempted to contact Ponga’s father about the TPA on Monday last week, but he did not return calls. He did not return calls on Tuesday.
The TPA was one of several approved by the NRL for Ponga before the 26-year-old signed his latest Knights contract, which made him the highest-paid player in the game.
He does not have any TPAs now, having wanted all income registered under the cap rather than from external sources when he re-signed.
While the Cannavo TPA was signed off by the NRL, the governing body is now exploring whether the deal was genuinely independent of the club, as demanded by the game’s salary cap rules.
Kalyn Ponga kicking a goal.Credit: Getty Images
Players must perform a service in exchange for receiving payments under TPAs. These often include public and corporate appearances. The NRL may need to ascertain what service Ponga undertook as part of the deal with Cannavo.
If the NRL concludes the deal did not comply with the stipulation that TPAs be at arm’s length, the salary cap auditor has discretionary powers to retrospectively include payments into the Knights’ salary cap.
The NRL will also need to determine the extent of the role Cannavo played in Ponga securing a release from his former management company in 2019, which included a $100,000 payment to part ways with his old agent and allow his father to represent him.
The other issue Andre Ponga wanted to address with the NRL and the Knights was a belief that his son was owed close to $160,000 under ratchet clause triggers.
In 2022, the NRL announced that the salary cap would increase by 18.23 per cent in 2023. At the time, the NRL had not signed off on a collective bargaining agreement with the Rugby League Players’ Association.
The following year, when the CBA was agreed with the RLPA, the NRL announced a revised annual increase in the salary cap of 15.55 per cent for 2024 to 2027, down almost three per cent on what the amount was expected to be when Ponga signed his new deal.
The RLPA’s push to increase the players’ minimum wage was the reason the percentage didn’t increase at the rate originally anticipated.
Andre Ponga believed his son was entitled to an 18.23 per cent increase per year as part of the ratchet clause in Kalyn’s Knights deal, however the NRL and Knights have since reiterated that he is only entitled to a 15.55 per cent increase in years 2024 to 2027.
Cannavo, 54, has an unofficial, voluntary role at the Knights but is said to have become a highly influential figure at the club.
His relationship with Gardner extends to business, with the Newcastle chief on the board of Native Mineral Resources, Cannavo’s ASX-listed copper and gold operation headquartered in Port Macquarie.
Cannavo previously worked for billionaire Andrew Forrest’s Fortescue Metals Group, heading up its Solomon mine in Western Australia’s Pilbara region.