Team-first attitude may end up costing Ponga
AUSTRALIA coach Mal Meninga concedes Kalyn Ponga’s move from fullback to fiveeighth with Newcastle next season “could have a negative impact” on the 20-year-old’s representative career.
In a bold move that highlights a team-first mentality, Ponga has agreed to make the switch into the halves to part- ner Mitchell Pearce because it is the best fit for the Knights.
But Meninga fears the move could jeopardise Ponga’s bid to replace Billy Slater in the Queensland No.1 jersey next year. Most believe Ponga has the rails run to grab the fullback spot from Slater.
But Meninga said that if Ponga was not playing fullback at club level, it would be extremely difficult to make the switch in State of Origin.
The scenario would give Valentine Holmes a huge advantage in the battle for fullback.
“It is a big ask,” Meninga said. “Fullback … takes a while to get used to. There is the effort-on-effort you need to do in attack and defence and the amount of talk you need to do.
“So, yeah, it could have a negative impact on his representative career at fullback.”
There is also a red-hot field vying for spots in the Queensland halves, including Cameron Munster, Daly Cherry-Evans, Michael Morgan, Anthony Milford and potentially Ash Taylor.
Ben Hunt’s rep career is now most likely to be at dummy half after Meninga picked the St George Illawarra playmaker as his back-up hooker for the recent Kangaroos Tests.
While no one questions Ponga’s ability at representative level in any position – after all, he played a blinder as a substitute in the forwards for Queensland this year – it would be a big ask to unseat Munster from five-eighth.
One thing that could work in Ponga’s favour is talk that Munster wants to play at fullback for Storm next season. If he does, that is likely where Queensland would pick him.