The Knights' next contract circus has already begun. It will play a much bigger role determining their future
OPINION
Kalyn Ponga wore a smirk then an agitated grimace as he endured a press conference he clearly would have preferred to skip after starring in the Knights' second straight win to start the 2025 season.
Such is the contract circus that has gripped the NRL over the past few weeks that arguably the game's best player has been relegated to a sideshow despite two outstanding individual performances that must have him among the favourites to clinch his second Dally M Medal.
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After scoring six Dally M votes in last week's tight victory over the Tigers, Ponga was once again the best afield as Newcastle showed defensive steel to complement their attacking flair in an impressive all-round performance.
Kalyn Ponga looks on during the Knights' win over the Dolphins. Getty
Yet, Ponga wore the wary expression of a star under siege as he and Adam O'Brien were peppered with questions about his future and the arrival of Dylan Brown on the NRL's biggest deal of all-time at the end of the season.
"It's pretty crazy," Ponga said at one stage, turning to O'Brien to grimace about the topic du jour.
Crazy indeed but future Knights have suddenly become a far more intriguing storyline than current Knights and two good wins to start the season won't be enough to change that.
Newcastle signed up for this kind of press conference by throwing an otherworldly contract at an enigmatic talent who is still yet to truly prove himself a winner.
But perhaps even more interesting are the "rumours" that Ponga isn't completely convinced his future lies in Newcastle. At the moment he stands as the Batman to Brown's Robin when the two join forces, assuming he hasn't bolted from Gotham City by this time next year.
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That remains the unlikeliest of scenarios, but as Braith Anasta said on NRL 360 during the week, "rumours" don't just appear out of thin air.
There is no doubt in the world that the Roosters would love to have Ponga to succeed James Tedesco when the champion fullback calls it a day.
Tedesco is 32 and in December signed a one-year contract tying him to Bondi until the end of next season.
That deal takes him almost to his 34th birthday and it wouldn't take much of a leap to think that could be it for one of his generation's best players, giving him a window for a potential jaunt to the south of France to finish his career in the Super League.
If that's how things play out in Bondi, you wouldn't put it past all-powerful Roosters chairman Nick Politis to move heaven and earth to make Ponga the centrepiece of the club's next premiership team.
The only problem is, Ponga won't be available until the following year, unless he agitates for an early exit - a situation that has played out countless times recently (think Ben Hunt) despite the misgivings of Peter V'landys who has started to voice concerns about the games that are played to pave a path to early termination.
"The hardest thing for Kalyn is the constant speculation that he's not happy here," O'Brien said after Ponga was asked to address rumours indicating he was toying with a future elsewhere.
Ponga pointed to his performance, saying "I thought I was pretty good tonight", and was keen to move on, as is to be expected from a player under contract.
But as Anasta would well know, as a player agent as well as a media personality, once the noise starts, there's really only one way to stop it.
If Ponga likes the idea of dedicating his prime years to Newcastle and building to a premiership, he should call his manager and ask him to start negotiating an extension.
If the Knights are willing to pay Brown $1.3-$1.4 million-a-season they'll surely sign off on an equally fat pay rise for the superior player; the one who truly has their fate in his hands.
For the speculation and rumours to go away, all Ponga has to do is make one phone call and within the fortnight he'll be locked away on a lifetime deal and he'll be making $2 million-a-year in his early thirties.
The longer he waits to commit to the Brown project, as out there as it seems, the louder the talk will grow that he's looking for the quickest way to the exit.
And if that happens, the Knights will be stuck with Robin but no Batman.
