Kalyn Ponga could follow Potter

Even Dally M winner Mick Potter is blown away by what Kalyn Ponga has achieved this NRL season.

Newcastle young gun Kalyn Ponga could be a Dally M Medal winner

Mick Potter knows what it’s like to win a Dally M award as a 20-year-old, but even he’s blown away by what Kalyn Ponga has achieved this NRL season.

Newcastle sensation Ponga aims to become the youngest Dally M winner in NRL history when it is announced at Sydney’s Circular Quay tonight.

Wind back to 1984 and Potter was a shock winner of rugby league’s highest individual medal at age 20, before Penrith great Greg Alexander repeated the feat the following year.

Should Ponga win, he will be several months younger than both Potter and Alexander were.

While both entered their respective Dally M seasons as 20-year-olds, Ponga turned 20 just five days after the Knights’ round-three loss to the Sydney Roosters.

He became the youngest recipient of the Players’ Champion at the Rugby League Players Association awards this month.

According to the bookmakers, Ponga is on the fourth line of betting, behind red-hot favourite Roger Tuivasa-Sheck, Damien Cook and Valentine Holmes.

Potter was an assistant on Nath­an Brown’s coaching staff this year and, having watched Ponga up close, describes him as a rare breed. “He’s got a drive that’s really impressive,” Potter said. “He’s going to be a marked man next year and have it a little bit tougher because teams — they’re going to see whether he changes up what he does.

“And he knows it’s coming. He’s doesn’t just think now he’s played a year of first grade and played State of Origin and it’s all going to come easy.”

When Dally M voting went behind closed doors after round 12, Ponga was on 16 points, just one behind Penrith playmaker James Maloney and equal with Luke Brooks and Andrew Fifita.

What will count against Ponga are the four games he missed in the final eight weeks — including Knights’ wins against Parramatta and Gold Coast that would have been golden chances to poll points.

Potter said although he felt like he was a shock winner as Canterbury’s No 1 in 1984, Ponga had guided the Knights around the park for most of the season.

“It all flashed past — I was surprised to start in first-grade at the start of the year,” he said. “It was fantastic playing behind a group of players that were just hardened. They were tough. They knew how to win.

“I felt like I was just a support for most of those guys. I was taken aback by getting that award, I thought I was just a bit-part player … It’s totally different for Kalyn.”

Meanwhile, Tuivasa-Sheck has been ruled out of New Zealand’s Test against Australia in Auckland next month and subsequent tour of Europe. A NZ Rugby League statement confirmed Tuivasa-Sheck was still not fit following knee surgery this month.

AAP