Kalyn Ponga on the year he does not want to look back on
Newcastle were unsettled in 2019. Kalyn Ponga’s switch from fullback to five-eighth was aborted and inconsistency cost them their 2019 season. Now, Ponga says “something has to change”.
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New Knights coach Adam O’Brien has already made an impact on the Newcastle playing group, ensuring there will be no speculation around key positions that could threaten to disrupt the team’s preparation for the 2020 NRL season.
O’Brien has committed to Kalyn Ponga staying in the fullback role, despite the Knights star beginning last season at five-eighth having successfully petitioned former coach Nathan Brown for the change.
At just 21, Ponga’s career is still in its infancy. But after starring for Newcastle in his first season at the club in 2018, he struggled to maintain that consistency last year.
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And the No. 1 said the group had been worked harder ahead of this season.
“Something has got to change,” Ponga said. “We’ll figure it out as a team. We want to win more games.
“It’s been tough. It’s been one of the hardest one I’ve done. I’ve enjoyed it. Finding that balance is always good.
“The intensity (has been the biggest difference). The boys came back in better shape so it allowed us to get faster, earlier. The intensity of everything has lifted.”
In a career already filled with plenty of highlight reel moments Kalyn Ponga says last year isn’t one to remember.
There were still plenty of big moments for Ponga but it was plagued by a Knights side who imploded in the back half of the year and with his flippant “strawberry thickshake” comment following Nathan Brown’s axing.
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Ponga said he learnt “lots of lessons” of out 2019.
“I learnt a lot of things,” Ponga said. “It was a year I don’t want to look back on too much. (I have to) grab a lot of good things out of it and move on.
“Don’t get complicated. I don’t know what the recipe was. We went through a stage where we were winning but then we weren’t. I don’t know if it was complacency or not. It’s a good reminder not to do that and to work hard and strive to be better.”
Ponga learnt to deal with expectations on and off the field.
“I didn’t mind it,” Ponga said. “It was good and bad. The bad wasn’t so bad at the end of the day. I’m going to learn from it.”