Kalyn Ponga investigated over ‘disrespectful’ move

NRL bosses have reacted in brutal fashion after Kalyn Ponga dropped a bomb on the code with his decision to step down.

NRL supremo Peter V’landys says he will investigate Kalyn Ponga’s shock decision to stand himself down from playing for Australia.

Ponga’s decision to make himself unavailable to play for the Kangaroos during their Pacific Championships campaign was widely criticised across the game on Tuesday night with calls for the Knights star to be banned from ever representing his country again.

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The situation exploded on Wednesday with V’landys voicing his displeasure with the Queensland State of Origin fullback, describing the move as “disappointing”.

It comes as reports emerged the Australian Rugby League Commission is reportedly considering suspending Ponga from playing NRL games at the start of the 2025 season.

V’landys was asked by News Corp if he would force Ponga to play. The ARLC chairman responded: “Well, I don’t want to use the word force, but I’m going to investigate this one, put it that way.

“For me, what’s more disappointing is when I was a kid, my dream was to play for Australia, to represent your country.

“As a sportsperson, that should be your ambition in any sport – to represent your country.

“That’s what this point is for me.

“The thing that hurts me the most is that you don’t want to represent your country and wear the green and gold.

Kalyn Ponga. Photo by Ian Hitchcock/Getty Images)

“Kids and people would dream to represent their country in anything.”

Channel 9 journalist Danny Weidler on Wednesday first reported NRL officials have already discussed the prospect of banning Ponga for several games.

Ponga earlier announced via a video released by the Knights that he wants to prioritise Newcastle’s pre-season training over the opportunity to play for Mal Meninga’s Kangaroos team.

NRL rules state that players must make themselves available for representative games unless they are injured, which Ponga is not.

Newcastle officials had been informed Ponga would be picked in Meninga’s squad for next month’s Pacific Championships.

But the 26-year-old made his stunning announcement on Tuesday afternoon, declaring his focus was on winning a premiership with the Knights.

“I want to win a comp, for me anything short of that isn’t success,” Ponga said.

“My focus has never shifted from wanting to win a premiership with the Knights, that has been my goal since I joined the club in 2018 and continues to be my focus.

“When I’m done, I want to look back at my career with a positive reflection, including people saying he was a great signing and represented our community to the best of his ability.

Kalyn Ponga has found himself in hot water over Kangaroos selection. (Photo by Ian Hitchcock/Getty Images)

“For now, I don’t feel like I have earned that yet. That’s why I have made this decision and will work hard every day to chase those goals.”

The way in which Ponga went about his decision drew plenty of blowback from the NRL 360 panel on Tuesday night, who revealed the NRL and Meninga were equally unimpressed.

“The major sticking point here is the process or the lack of process that’s been followed,” Dave Riccio said.

“Make a phone call to Mal and say ‘this is what I’m thinking, would you be OK with it’ and this would be a far different story.

“But the fact the media statement came out to the complete surprise of the NRL and Mal Meninga is what’s going to create a bigger story here.”

Braith Anasta called Ponga’s conduct “unprofessional” before journalist Paul Crawley called for a fine and an Origin ban.

“There’s ways to do things,” Crawley said.

“I looked at his statement that said he wanted to put his focus on Newcastle and at first you go well that’s fair enough, but then you start pulling apart the parts to this process that have been neglected.

“As I understand it the Knights had been informed he would be in the squad, so if it turns out that he didn’t put in a call to the NRL and especially to Mal Meninga, that’s just an absolute show of disrespect and a slap in the face.

“The NRL have to take a stand on this because in the past, in eras gone by, it was always up to the representative doctor to make a decision on whether a player was available or not.

“That seems to have disappeared in where clubs have taken on more professionalism, but there’s no talk of injury here.

“If the NRL doesn’t take a tough stance, it opens a loophole for other clubs to say in the future that we don’t want our players playing for Tonga or Samoa or Australia or New Zealand in the end of season Test matches.

“It’s a show of disrespect to the NRL where’d you’d almost slap him with a fine for bringing the game into disrepute and you wouldn’t let him play Origin next year. If you don’t want to play Tests, well Origin is a selection trial for the Australian team.”

Ponga made himself unavailable for Queensland selection last season following several concussions and it paid dividends as he stormed home to win the Dally M Medal.

Ponga missed nine games for Newcastle this year with a foot injury and finished the season in sublime form as he single-handedly dragged his club into the finals.

They were knocked out in week one by the Cowboys and Ponga now won’t play again until next year following his Kangaroos snub.

“It’s just unnecessary, there’s a way to go about things and it’s happened a few times with Kalyn’s camp,” Anasta said.

“If you just handle things the right way, it gets you a long way and people understand.

“We don’t know what he’s going through, it could be anything. But if you ring the coach, you ring the NRL and tell them those reasons then Mal would go ‘no worries’.”

Originally published as Kalyn Ponga investigated over ‘disrespectful’ move