Kalyn Ponga WALKS OUT of press conference after copping a grilling about Wayne Bennett meeting

Kalyn Ponga is on the centre of a tug-of-war for his providers in 2023 between present membership Newcastle and new franchise the Dolphins – however he was in no temper to speak about it within the wake of his membership’s 30-6 loss to Manly.

Following Newcastle’s third consecutive loss, Ponga fronted the media to face a barrage of questions on his future and his reported assembly final Saturday with Dolphins coach Wayne Bennett.

It resulted in some terse reponses adopted by Ponga gesturing to his coach Adam O’Brien and each of them strolling out of the press convention.

Now you see him, now you do not. Ponga smirked at questions on his assembly with Bennett earlier than in the end strolling out of the media convention

When pressed on his assembly with Bennett, Ponga was blunt. 

‘I do not know if you happen to’ve observed, however each time you ask I do not offer you a solution, so keep affected person, I’ve individuals engaged on it, my focus is all the time right here [at Newcastle] and you already know that,’ he mentioned.

Quizzed about his assembly with Bennett, Ponga mentioned: ‘It clearly occurred. As soon as it occurred I moved on and I used to be apprehensive in regards to the [Manly] sport.’

The reporters refused to drop the topic, nevertheless, forcing O’Brien to leap in to talk on behalf of Ponga.   

‘I can communicate to that. [Firstly] it is not a lunch date [with Bennett]. It is his proper, it is in his contract, a contract we wrote,’ he mentioned.

‘I am snug as a result of I do not see a dip in any of his preparation and his starvation at coaching. That hasn’t wavered. I’ve received a radar out for that stuff.

‘On the finish of the day, I would like him to make the very best choice with all the knowledge on the desk. Then there is no regrets, and if he chooses to remain, he is made the selection with all of the information. I am actually snug with it both method.

‘I do know his teammates are in comparable conditions. I do know [other deals] usually are not as excessive profile and [being discussed] at this stage of the yr, however all of them come off contract, all of them negotiate, they usually normally negotiate with multiple membership.

‘We’ll get the reply, and he is price ready for from my perspective.

‘Tonight, we ought to be speaking about that efficiency, which wasn’t nice for us.’

Ponga and the Knights endured a troublesome night in opposition to Manly, shedding 30-6 – the membership’s third consecutive loss after opening the season with consecutive wins.

It comes after former Brisbane Broncos and North Queensland Cowboys star Brent Tate mentioned Ponga was not definitely worth the {dollars} the Dolphins are reportedly providing him.

‘We speak about million greenback gamers and he’s going to get an enormous contract on the Knights,’ Tate mentioned.

‘I like Kalyn and I feel he is an excellent participant. However I nonetheless assume he’s fairly unproven whenever you speak about million-dollar gamers.’

‘I feel Munster can be an excellent recruit for the Dolphins.’

Knights coach Craig Catterick attends to Ponga who had blood coming from his nostril after a excessive shot from  Harper and a collision with the bottom.

Ponga had a combined evening for the Knights within the loss to Manly on Thursday evening, scoring a strive but in addition being pressured from the sector for a HIA simply earlier than halftime. 

He was caught by a excessive shot from Manly centre Morgan Harper and hit his head on the turf, earlier than returning to attain his facet’s solely strive of the match. 

Manly coach Des Hasler mentioned he was happy together with his gamers’ effort to include Ponga and was assured Harper wouldn’t have a case to reply for the incident.

‘He is a high quality participant, and one of the crucial harmful issues a participant like Kalyn has is time; we thought we lower down a little bit bit, he mentioned.  

‘I feel he [Harper] will probably be OK. I feel he was unfortunate.’