The NRL corporate media has throw it out there that NRL Rumours are swirling about that Kayln Ponga is unhappy at the Newcastle Knights and could be eyeing a move to the Sydney Roosters.
The news comes just days after Dylan Brown told Parramatta Eels teammates he would leave the club at the of the 2025 season, probably to take up a MASSIVE deal at the Newcastle Knights.
I don’t believe in coincidences…
Kayln Ponga moved from the North Queensland Cowboys to the Newcastle Knights on a massive deal of his own at the very start of his career. He is the clubs only true top line player, a true standout at the club, and when he doesn’t play, the Knights are just no chance of winning.
So with that in mind, and knowing how valuable he is to the Knights, what do you think Ponga and his management thought when new came through that the club was willing to pay someone else WAY MORE money and for a WAY LONGER contract?
I’d have been pissed off too…
My guess is the Ponga camp is putting this news out there to try and get the Knights to come to the table, renegotiate a sizeable, long term deal at the club, possibly for even more than Dylan Brown will be signed on for, or as a worst case scenario he gets permission to leave the club and go to a similarly desperate team in the Sydney Roosters.
Either way, its a win-win for Kayln Pongas market value.
Now, if this public pressure does affect the Newcastle Knights management (Who are dreadful by the way) they may seek to give Ponga the big contract that Dylan Brown thinks he is getting from the club. That would of course be devastating to Brown, and leave him in a terrible position, and honestly it would be a terrible look for the Knights which would also make Ponga look pretty bad as well.
Ponga is going to want nothing less than what Brown has been offered, and the idea of any club having two players on their books on ten year contracts with nearly $3 million a season is frightening! Even adjusting for salary cap increases, you’d have two players taking up 30% of the cap for a 30 man squad.
How the Knights navigate this will be interesting to watch. They can’t burn Brown now, it would trash their reputation with players, but I also don’t think they can give Ponga the same amount of money that Brown will be getting either.
This is course is all a mess, and the Knights themselves have created it!
As I said, dreadful management…
