Still sporting a moonboot heading into the Christmas holidays, the Newcastle Knights has provided the latest update on superstar fullback and captain Kalyn Ponga ahead of the upcoming 2026 NRL season.
Sustaining a Lisfranc injury at the backend of this year's campaign, the Knights have confirmed that Ponga will indeed be fit and available for their opening match of the season against the Canterbury Bulldogs in Las Vegas.
This comes as he has yet to begin training and is expected to resume normal activities in the new year.
The decision to rest him at the moment is due to the Knights taking a cautious approach with him in case he re-injuries himself.
“We need to take a conservative approach with Kalyn,” Head of Football Chris James told SEN 1170 Breakfast.
“The Lisfranc's a really serious injury. It's the ACL of the foot and this is now his second one.
“I think previously we've had to rush Kalyn back from injuries because of how important he's been to this footy team, and we've got a bit of time on our side now during this offseason where we can actually make sure that we go through the rehab process really slowly and get his foot ready.
“He's been doing a lot of work out of the boot and then he gets back into the boot to sort of deload it for a period of time, so we just wanted to make sure that we're really conservative, so that in round one he's ready to go.
“(The plan is) ready for Vegas… get him fit and firing for Vegas which is really exciting for our footy club.”
James also confirmed that coach Justin Holbrook has yet to decide on whether it will be Fletcher Sharpe or Sandon Smith who will join Dylan Brown in the halves for the start of the 2026 NRL season.
If Smith plays in the halves with the New Zealand international five-eighth, Phoenix Crossland will play in the dummy-half role, but if Sharpe is chosen as Brown's partner, then both Crossland and Smith are options for the No.9 jumper.
“Everyone keeps asking the question, but Justin's (Holbrook) playing them in all different positions, he's trialing them on different sides of the field and everybody's really caught up with what number they're going to wear,” James added.
“I think you'll see a style of footy where they'll just play in different positions in different parts of the field.
“History will tell you injuries and different things go on throughout the year where you need 28 players to play for you in an NRL season, so we're just fortunate now that we've got depth in our halves, we've got depth in our spine, and that's a real difference here than what we've had over the last previous years.
“(Dylan Brown's) great with the ball, he'll straighten attacks, but he played behind a great New Zealand pack as well (in the Pacific Championships).
“That's what the message at training for us has been. Our middles and our forwards, they've got a responsibility to make sure that the likes of Dyl (Brown), Sandon (Smith), Fletcher Sharpe and Kalyn are playing on the back of the pack going forward.
“That's been a real focus for us as well. (I'm) so happy for Dyl. He's come up here; he's had a new baby. I think we'll definitely see the best of Dylan Brown here in Newcastle.”
