Kalyn Ponga has promised Knights bosses he’ll see out the final two years of his $1.4 million before looking to leave Newcastle after a panic meeting with club general manager Peter Parr late this week.
Parr summoned the Queensland superstar to an extraordinary sitdown to discuss one thing: Ponga signing up a New Zealand rugby union agent to explore his options for 2026 and beyond.
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The meeting came 72 hours after the news broke; Newcastle had expected Ponga to come to them, but when the 27-year-old had made no efforts to sit down with anyone from the Wests Group leadership or with club officials, Parr made the call.
Ponga fronted Knights headquarters on Thursday morning, where he was then given the club’s strategic vision for the future. Parr specifically addressed Ponga’s concerns around winning premierships and promised the marquee fullback the Knights haven’t given up on winning NRL titles — a fact made clear by their overpaying for Dylan Brown.
When grilled by the Sydney Morning Herald, the word from Parr was that it was a “private chat.”
Whatever the specifics were for Ponga, he left the meeting, linked up with the club social gurus, and released a post on Instagram designed to allay any fears loyal Novocastrians had about him leaving at the end of the year.
“Committed to the end of 2027,” wrote Ponga.
“Excited about the vision of the club. Appreciate those that support me.”
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Now, this Base writer wouldn’t say it’s a very inspiring response to three days of media whirlwind, but if that’s what Newcastle and their 27-year-old fullback had figured out, then it must have been the best message to put it on Thursday.
Even more interestingly, rugby league journalist Michael Chammas has since suggested “the Ponga camp had no desire to go public with their stance until at least the end of this season.” Instead, Ponga and his agents wanted to “gauge the level of interest from prospective clubs or governing bodies before approaching the Knights.”
Instead, reports came out this week – including here at the Base – and forced the Knights to act.
It wasn’t great timing for powerbrokers the Hunter outfit either, who had just made the move to sack Adam O’Brien by the end of the season no matter how the Knights finish up their 2025 NRL campaign.
