Ponga adapts to life in defence
KALYN IS PROBABLY GOING TO LEARN SOME LESSONS IN THE FRONT LINE, WHICH IS VERY, VERY DIFFERENT AND HE’S LEARNING QUITE WELL NATHAN BROWN
KALYN Ponga has no issue handling the increased traffic coming his way in the defensive line. In fact, he enjoys it. The trick from here, though, will be learning when to go looking for that tackling workload and when to save himself for attacking the line.
And there’s a slight upshot to opponents focusing their attentions on Ponga’s side of the field.
“Sometimes it won’t be Kalyn’s doing, sometimes the opposition do that to him, but if they’re tiring Kalyn, they aren’t tiring (Mitchell) Pearcey out,” Newcastle coach Nathan Brown said. “At the end of the day, one of the things that excited Kalyn about going to five-eighth is he actually likes tackling. He’s not a half-type of person who doesn’t want to tackle.
“What Matty (Johns) is saying is that there’s got to be a common sense factor to it too.
“Kalyn’s No.1 aspect in the team is he’s an outstanding offensive player, and if he goes chasing too many tackles, that could knock him around a bit.
“Kalyn is probably going to learn some lessons in the front line, which is very, very different and he’s learning quite well.”
The Knights had a glut of possession they weren’t able to convert into points in their first-up win over Cronulla.
Though they scored two tries in the end, the second came from an intercept to Edrick Lee and the first didn’t come until 12 minutes to go.
Brown is confident the sharpness in attack will come as the rounds go on, and was pleased with his team’s control and that the opportunities were there, even if they didn’t result in scoring plays.
Newcastle will be keeping a cap on any elation at starting the season with a win that broke the Sharks’ eight-match winning run against them.
New recruits have not only added muscle to the team, but their experience means the squad has kept a level head at training this week.
“Fortunately now we’ve got some players who have been around winning environments,” Brown said. “(David Klemmer has) come from Canterbury, has played in a number of grand finals, winning Origins and winning Tests and Aidan spent a lot of time at the Roosters and knows about winning environments.
“That’s the bonus of having those guys now and their education can rub off on our younger players who are developing.” editorial@cairnspost.com.au facebook.com/TheCairnsPost www.cairnspost.com.au twitter.com/TheCairnsPost