Kalyn Ponga, the 21-year-old superstar with the world at his feet. He continues to get better every time I watch him, and every time an opposition team tries to stifle his attack, he pulls out a new party trick.
He's that good, people are talking about him as being already the best player in the world. Some feat considering he’s only into his second full NRL season and has not even played a half century of first grade games.
Not long ago, when the Knights signed him as a 19-year-old who had only played two NRL games, the media went into a frenzy criticising the Knights for how much they were paying him, and the length of the contract.
They said it was a panic signing, paying massive overs for a kid who hadn’t proved himself, apart from some nice Under 20’s highlights and that now famous Churchie Schoolboys video.
In fairness, they were right. It seemed a crazy amount of money, the sort of money no 19-year-old could justify, especially considering he hadn’t even put a year of first grade together.
Fast forward two years, and that said contract is now the talk of the NRL, with the media now declaring he’s being paid massive unders. Again, they are right.
He’s worth a million dollars a year, maybe even more, but it now looks extremely shrewd business from the Knights.
It’s credit to Ponga and his ability to not just fulfil, but exceed the expectations placed on him by the fans and media. His temperament is as good as I’ve seen in a young player, nothing seems to phase him and the bigger the stage, the seemingly more he steps up.
He’s adding strings to his bow that players don’t usually develop until their mid to late 20’s. We all knew of the fantastic footwork he possessed, the big goose step that mesmerises his opponents and makes them look like they are standing still when trying to defend him, just ask Tyson Frizell or Angus Crichton.
What we didn’t realise however is how good his ball playing ability is. I’d go as far to see he’s the best ball playing fullback in the NRL, especially now Billy Slater has retired, and he always seems to take the right option, whether that’s a skip on the outside of his defender and tipping it onto Lachlan Fitzgibbon in the back row, or the cut out ball to the winger when the opposition defence is jamming in.
It’s these types of skills it took the premier fullbacks in the game years to develop. Look at Slater, Darius Boyd or Greg Inglis, they didn’t come into grade with the ball playing ability, they honed their skills over time and eventually became the elite at it.
For Ponga, it’s all the more impressive considering he has it in his armour at just the tender age of 21.
Take his State of Origin game one performance, where he wasn’t provided the space to utilise his running game as he does in club land.
Instead, he went to the line with options, causing the wingers to push in because they’re afraid of what he will do, and he fired two beautiful bullet like passes to Corey Oates and Dane Gagai who scored in the corners.
It’s this ability to recognise what option to take and when that sets him apart from his peers.
Ever since Nathan Brown moved him back to fullback from five-eighth, he’s looked so much more dangerous.
He doesn’t have the responsibility of organising the team, but he can chime in and get his hands on the ball whenever he wants, very similar to the way Matt Moylan plays in the one.
I notice he actually plays a bit of first receiver, especially to get the team back to their points to reload and run a strike play again. This allows Mitchell Pearce to orchestrate in the back play and then Ponga just reloads into his attacking shape and plays off the direct Pearce.
The way Ponga’s game has developed over the past 18 months is a phenomenal achievement, he’s already the Maroons No.1 and is locked in for a great battle for the Kangaroos jersey with NSW gun James Tedesco.
He finds new ways to break down defences who are trying hard every week to nullify his game, and it’s this ability of being able to adapt to the way teams try to defend against him that impresses me most.
His rise has been meteoric, from the young kid the Knights were paying stupid money to arguably the best player in the game, and the biggest bargain running currently running around.
If he continues on his current trajectory, it’s frightening to think of what he can achieve.
