Some years ago on a footy show lost in the mists of time, former NSW Blues coach and part-time oracle, Phil Gould, coined a phrase that stuck in the rugby league lexicon and became a catch-all catch-phrase to describe the elite players therein. That phrase was: “Origin player”. There is no higher praise.
What is an Origin player? What qualities does an Origin player possess that normal players do not? It’s more than being fast and strong and skilful and tough, because rugby league’s full of those guys. Rather there’s some indefinable look to an Origin player, some way they hold themselves that points to elite league intelligence. You know it when you see it.
Step forward Newcastle Knights’ fullback Kalyn Ponga: Origin player in waiting. The only surprising thing is that it’s taken Queensland so long to know it when they see it.
Well, they have seen it. It’s not like it’s a secret. They know he’s purpose-built for the highest, fastest, most elite ruby league there is. And yet, they didn’t pick him last year, deeming him “not ready”. Then he was too young, presumably.
Now, with respect to Kevin Walters and the greater Queensland selection committee, that is ridiculous. He’s ready. He’s ready like Darren Lockyer was ready, like Laurie Daley was. Some mature early. David Klemmer’s looked like David Klemmer from his first game. Look at Nathan Cleary; he’s Greg Alexander. There’s some who just look immediately physically there. Off the field, emotionally, they could be typically fractious colts. But on the field, they’re near-finished articles. Origin players.
That’s not to say all who play Origin are Origin players. Ben Ikin debuted for Queensland in 1995 aged 18 years and 83 days old. He’ll tell you he wasn’t ready. And he’ll tell you today Ponga is. Yet Ikin wouldn’t pick Ponga in his Maroons XVII.
“He’ll handle it,” says Ikin. “But why rush him? Handling Origin and starring in it are two different things. I’d roll him out next year.”
Yet with Michael Morgan out and Slater’s hamstring turning 35 today, Queensland don’t have the luxury. They did in 2017 when Slater was fit but selectors stayed loyal to Darius Boyd and Corey Oates. That was a mistake. Queensland learned: when Billy Slater is fit, pick Billy Slater. As the headline in Mal Meninga’s Courier-Mail column decreed: “Don’t go silly, just pick Billy”.
Well, Queensland? Look no longer, just pick Ponga.
Against Melbourne Storm in Newcastle yesterday, the 20-year-old showed plenty of what he’s capable of. Not the super-flashy stuff that will set YouTube alight, but subtler, more “rugby league” touches: a soft, flick pass, torpedo spiral balls both ways. He kicked long and high, and he grubbered on the run.
On his feet he was typically funky. Ponga sports a pure little hop-step, at the line, that draws players to him, just enough to create space for the runners outside. It’s under-stated. He does have the “mid-air step” of Roger Tuivasa-Sheck and Benji Marshall – it’s in his arsenal – but at the line his work is more subtle. He does what he must.
In the 31st minute Ponga got himself into dummy-half and used his fast-twitch fibres to throw a fast-twitch dummy. He stepped a few different ways in the space of a telephone box, and rolled over the line with a couple on him. He nailed the conversion.
His footwork made the Knights’ second try, drawing them in and creating the overlap. All week Storm would’ve looked at footage of Ponga ripping this very move, but knowing it and stopping it are two different things.
Without Mitchell Pearce, Knights coach Nathan Brown had Ponga kicking, passing, driving things from first receiver and dummy-half. He’s the best player in a middling side, and if his team-mates hadn’t coughed up so much ball they may have run Storm close. As it was they were towelled up. The Knights beat the Knights more than Melbourne.
It made you think: if Ponga played for Melbourne – or the Roosters or the Dragons or even the dear, sweet, free-running Canberra Raiders – and was on the end of big thundering forwards and slick ball-payers inside, running at back-peddling pigs, he could be tearing up the entire comp. He wouldn’t be “ready” – he’d be in – as Cameron Munster is in, as “the Fox” Josh Addo-Carr is in, as Nick Cotric would be in if said Fox was not.
Some years ago Australia coach Bob Fulton asked Gould if 19-year-old Brad Fittler was ready to head away on a Kangaroo Tour. Fittler had played Origin. But Fulton was doing due diligence and wanted to know if the boy would handle the tour. Gould assured Fulton he would. “He’s a bit special, Freddy,” said Gould.
Ponga is a bit special, too. He’s an Origin player.
