Ponga won't win Newcastle a title, so let him leave. This 20-year rot is the real issue

Sydney Morning Herald

16-07-2025

Now, Ponga is 27, and he has always been ambitious, wanting to win a premiership or challenge himself at the top level in either code – league or union.
The challenge of trying to play for the All Blacks is obviously appealing, and Ponga's Maori heritage and links to New Zealand are important to him.
The cold, hard fact is he won't win a premiership at Newcastle. Several senior players – Leo Thompson, Jackson Hastings, Jayden Brailey, Adam Elliott and Jack Hetherington – are going to follow Daniel Saifiti out the door and another rebuild looms.
From my point of view, if Kalyn requests a release from the last two years of his contract, I say goodbye, good luck and thank you for your service to the Knights.
He is a phenomenal, freakish athlete and probably deserves to be on the world stage that rugby can offer. He's attracted other players to Newcastle and helped deliver sponsors. If he truly wants to go to rugby, it's time to let him go.
The massive worry for Newcastle if Kalyn leaves at the end of this season is what does 2026 look like? Fletcher Sharpe would move to fullback, where his support play and speed are great assets, while Dylan Brown would play five-eighth or halfback on the richest deal in rugby league history.
But who would be his halves partner? I genuinely don't know who fits best alongside him. And with Brailey off to Canberra, the club sees Phoenix Crossland as a small No.13 going forward. So the only other dummy-half on the books is Matt Arthur, who has played one game this year and is yet to prove himself. The Knights missed out on Tallyn Da Silva.
That's two positions in your playmaking spine where you don't know what the plan is. Putting it politely, it's a complete mess.
Five recruitment managers in six years
Again, the club is apparently moving on from O'Brien, who seems to be on his last legs after taking Newcastle to four top-eight finishes in his five full seasons at the club. Finals football looks beyond them in 2025.
I think O'Brien has done a good job under extreme pressure in a league-mad town. Those results speak to something like stability on the field, but he has been let down terribly by instability around him.
Jack Gibson's old quote about winning starting in the front office rings so loud when you consider the five different recruitment managers Newcastle have had since 2018.
For a while, the Knights were averaging a new man in charge every 12 months, in arguably the most important position outside head coach. In 2018, Troy Pezet was shaping the roster. Then Alex McKinnon took over in 2019. By 2021, it was Clint Zammit calling the shots. Then Adam Doyle stepped in when Zammit went to the Roosters.
General manager Peter Parr ended up running recruitment when Doyle wrapped up, and now it's Peter O'Sullivan undertaking a massive overhaul.
Each recruitment man arrives with a different idea of what player suits the Knights DNA, and what that Knights DNA even looks like.
We see it at a club like Brisbane, with a great history of attacking players, who recruit and develop players like Reece Walsh and Ezra Mam. The Panthers have long been a grinding, tough side, where a guy like Liam Martin thrives.
The Storm are strong, disciplined and very defence-orientated, especially around the ruck. Craig Bellamy works his magic with tough, no-frills forwards.
Canberra are an unorthodox team. They've recruited players who can offload up front, and surrounded them with speed from players such as Kaeo Weekes, Xavier Savage, Chevy Stewart and Ethan Strange.
Each of these clubs are in the top six and going to play a massive part in this year's premiership race.
75 per cent: Development is the Knights DNA
Then there's Newcastle. The club has always been built on local juniors. This year, the club is running 14th in the NRL, 11th in NSW Cup and Jersey Flegg (under-21s) and 10th in SG Ball (under-19s), where the Knights have otherwise played finals in recent years.
The Harold Matthews (under-17s squad) were runners up to the Warriors in May. These are the kids the club needs to identify and coach the eyeballs out of, because there just hasn't been a progression of local juniors to first grade in the past six years.
This isn't O'Brien's fault. But this is where Newcastle need to rebuild – going right back to the very evening the Knights played their first game in 1988 and the club's DNA was set in stone with the 'three T's'.
Inaugural coach Allan McMahon, understudy David Waite and juniors coach Keith Onslow came in with the mantra that you had to be tough, you had to be able to tackle, and you had to have plenty of tomorrows – meaning you had a future ahead of you.
They came in with a 10-year plan, that by 1998, 75 per cent of the Newcastle side would be locals. In 1997, we won the club's first premiership with 11 of the 17 players in the grand final team local juniors. It was the same number in 2001.
The Knights are a development club, built from within because they just can't compete with richer, more powerful rivals.
It's time to blow up the junior system and ask Waite and Onslow how to do it. Because the Knights have Brown arriving on a $13 million contract next year, when the club should never have to import a half or hooker.
Places like Newcastle, the coalfields where I'm from, the Upper Hunter, Central Coast and Mid North Coast are rugby-league mad regions.
But the Knights haven't produced a representative-class halfback since Jarrod Mullen came into the NRL in 2005. Danny Buderus was the last representative-level dummy half from the region, more than 20 years ago. The system is broken.
Whoever the next coach of the Knights is, they're facing a huge challenge, and it will probably be years before they can challenge for premierships. And if Ponga leaves, it will just amplify the pressure on Brown.
Be patient Newcastle fans. I feel for you. We're in for another rebuild.
Why young halves need to study Tom Dearden
Onto the footy, and the Dolphins should have beaten Cronulla last week. If Jeremy Marshall-King dived on the ball that Toby Rudolf batted dead, that result would have gone the other way.
Even with Isaiya Katoa pulling the strings and Hamiso Tabuai-Fidow coming back, I'm always drawn to Gorden Tallis' favourite line: forwards win the game; the backs decide by how much.
The Dolphins are hurting up front, with Daniel Saifiti, Tom Gilbert, Felise Kaufusi and Tom Flegler – all representative forwards – sidelined. Given they're joined by Max Plath, Jack Bostock, Kodi Nikorima, Mark Nicholls and Kulikefu Finefeuiaki, that injury toll has me thinking Thursday night is a bridge too far for the home side.
Like the Dolphins, North Queensland could easily have beaten the Bulldogs last weekend, and I think their Origin players will be freshened up this week for a fast, open game that favours attacking skills. I see Scott Drinkwater, Tom Dearden and Reece Robson getting the Cowboys home.
And on Dearden, it's incredible to think how far he's come from his first few years at the Broncos. I watched him closely as a young talented half, and that wooden spoon run in 2020 seemed to break him – he just looked so devoid of any confidence, and he's admitted that.
Then you look at the way Dearden, Todd Payten and the club have rebuilt him into the playmaker he is now.
I think his Origin III showing will go down as one of Queensland's classic individual performances – just pure toughness and competitiveness, with Dearden's kicking game and ball playing improving out of sight.