'Queensland's gonna be shattered': Kalyn Ponga reacts to brutal Tom Dearden injury blow
Updated . First published
Kalyn Ponga was left "shattered" after learning the news that Queensland teammate Tom Dearden is set to miss the State of Origin series opener.
Dearden suffered a syndesmosis injury while playing for the Cowboys in their golden-point loss to Parramatta on Friday night and is facing up to two months on the sideline.
The club confirmed the halfback would undergo surgery and if he misses eight weeks as predicted, it would rule him out for at least the first two Origin games.
READ MORE: 'Brave' AJ soldiers on as battered Bunnies outlast rivals
READ MORE: Butters learns fate after contentious bump on Bulldog
READ MORE: Dragons booed by own fans again after 'embarrassing' loss
Ponga - who is expected to be in the Maroons' team either at fullback, on the bench or now potentially in the halves - was informed of the diagnosis after he led the Knights to a dominant 44-10 win over the Dragons on Saturday afternoon.
"Shit … f--k, that's pretty bad, I feel for Tommy," he said.
Kalyn Ponga reacts to news of Tom Dearden's injury. Fox League/Getty
"I know how hard he works and how much he loves his footy and how much he loves Queensland, he's gonna be shattered and I think Queensland's gonna be shattered.
"Obviously I want to play good footy next week and my focus is getting that right and we'll see what happens after that, but I feel for Tommy."
The injury happened with 17 minutes left when Dearden broke through the line and was dragged down from behind by Josh Addo-Carr and Joash Papalii.
Both tacklers grabbed him by the collar and fell on his legs, with Dearden in agony.
"Dearden is in despair on the ground," caller Mat Thompson said on Nine.
Watch the 2026 NRL season live and free on Nine and 9Now.
Phil Gould didn't see any punishment for the tackle and neither did the Bunker.
"They're trying to save the try, trying to pull him down, it's been happening for 100 years," Gould said.
Dearden limped away and looked to try and run it off.
Maroons coach Billy Slater's concern level would have skyrocketed when he meekly tried to chase after a runaway Ronald Volkman.
The tenacious Dearden ended up with the ball despite running gingerly, with his Maroons coach noting "he's not 100 per cent".
Tom Dearden suffered an ankle injury in the Cowboys' loss to the Eels. NRL Images
"He got himself back there through his toughness," he said.
Dearden was with the trainer in back play and continued on, with Slater later revealing why he was staying on the field.
"You can see Tom Dearden is really hampered by that ankle. The only reason I can see that he's still out there is the Cowboys have no interchanges left," he said.
Dearden eventually came off when the match went to golden point, opening the doors for Sam McIntyre to come on in the centres as Jaxon Purdue moved to the halves.
Post-match, cameras captured Dearden with ice on his ankle in the sheds as he limped around, but Slater said the fact the playmaker stayed on didn't surprise him.
Todd Payten admitted his co-captain was playing on "one leg" and slammed his side's lack of respect for throwing the ball around while he was struggling.
Payten was also asked if he had any regret about keeping him on the field.
"I just talked to him about it, he said he should've come off but he wanted to run it out. The message was coming up to us he was good to go ... he wanted to stick it out but we all got it wrong," he said.
To make matters worse for the Cowboys, the club also confirmed Soni Luke had suffered a high-grade MCL tear and would miss a month.
