Knights captain Kalyn Ponga has fortunately averted a concussion scare forward of the State of Origin sequence opener, however suffered an embarrassing mind fade throughout Saturday afternoon’s loss to the Cronulla Sharks.
In the second half of Newcastle’s 26-6 defeat in Coffs Harbour, Ponga meekly handed over possession pondering the set was over whereas spraying his teammates.
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Newcastle Knights Press Conference | 07:29
“Oh my goodness … what on earth happened,” Fox League commentator Warren Smith stated.
Former Queensland consultant Corey Parker continued: “The lead up play to this was awful … Kalyn Ponga, he did not even play the ball.
“Either way he’s a spine member and didn’t get his hands on the ball (in that set) and comes up with a play like that.”
Ponga supplied a sheepish apology to his teammates after registering his blunder, dropping his head in frustration.
“That was my fault,” he instructed reporters after the sport.
“I was half spraying (Gamble) but I also thought it was the last. That’s on me. That’s a concentration error. That’s not good enough.
“You have to hold each other accountable. That happens at every team.”
Meanwhile, Ponga despatched a scare via the Queensland camp early within the Round 12 contest, leaving the sphere for an HIA following a sort out with Sharks winger Ronaldo Mulitalo.
The 25-year-old’s head made contact with Mulitalo’s shoulder within the fifth minute, however ran off the sphere unassisted in promising scenes.
Under the league’s new concussion protocols, any participant identified with a concussion will likely be sidelined from contact coaching for ten days. Game one of many State of Origin sequence kicks off on Wednesday, May 31, which means the Queenslander would have been barred from contact coaching till the day earlier than the Adelaide Oval conflict.
Thankfully for Ponga and the Maroons, he handed the HIA and returned to the sphere a couple of minutes later.
“It was just heavy contact,” Ponga defined afterwards.
“I felt fine, to be honest. I went through the HIA and I honestly felt pretty good.
“I’ve had enough now to know which ones are bad and whether I’m not okay. Nothing but the truth there, I was honest.
“I stayed down a little bit from the contact, but in terms of my head and the concussion side of things, I felt pretty good.”
The Knights, presently eleventh on the NRL ladder with 4 wins, will subsequent face the Sea Eagles in Newcastle on Sunday, May 28, with kick-off scheduled for 4.05pm AEST.
Source: www.foxsports.com.au