Kalyn Ponga leading the Dally M voting — can the Knights fullback go all the way?
KALYN Ponga’s matchwinning play for Newcastle on Friday night took the livewire fullback to the top of the Dally M voting — an unbelievable 13 points clear of his nearest rival, inured teammate Mitchell Pearce.
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LIVEWIRE fullback Kalyn Ponga continued to his rocketing rise in the NRL when he pulled off the matchwinning play on Friday to consolidate the belief he’ll soon be among the game’s elite.
His efforts against Manly last week helped him to another three points in Dally M voting meaning he sits outright first on 13 points ahead of teammate Mitchell Pearce, who had tallied 11 points before being injured in Round 7.
Some of the game’s greatest have marvelled at Ponga’s abilities at just 20 years old, even Knights legend and eighth Immortal Andrew Johns called him an “absolute genius”.
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Teammate Chris Heighington reckons at this stage of his career he’s outplaying another who’s been in the spotlight in 2018 — Benji Marshall.
“(He’s) top of the tree. I came through when Benji was coming through at the Wests Tigers, I can see a heap of that,” said Heighington, who played 10 seasons alongside Marshall at the Tigers.
“Without getting too crazy ahead of Kalyn, he’s got a bright future. He’s probably better than Benji, at this stage of his career.
“Just in the ball playing, Benji was more of a runner but I think Kalyn can do both and it’s still a long way to go to be better than Benji, but he’s probably ahead of Benji.”
Ponga, who’s in his second season of NRL and has just 17 first grade games to his name, leads the NRL in tackle-breaks (68), linebreak assists (nine) and rates top five in try assists (eight) and kick return metres (426).
Heighington credits Ponga’s impressive start to the season and his Dally M standing to an incredible work ethic off the field.
“It probably says that he’s been consistent and getting the job done each week,” he said.
“Young kids sometimes can bring good games and then an average game, but he seems to be able to consistently play well, that’s what’s good about him.
“But he does come here and works on his game and does video and that’s where he’s bringing the consistency because each week he works on his game and makes sure he gets his preparation right, which you don’t see in young kids every day.”
Newcastle five-eighth Connor Watson is happy to have Ponga in their spine to chime in when he wants.
“He’s come up with big plays all year, Kalyn has,” Watson said.
“He just keeps doing it, I don’t know, he’s a freak, that’s all I can really say, he’s a freak. Just give him the ball and watch him do his thing.”