Housemate Connor Watson reckons Kalyn Ponga is in the "fittest shape" he's ever seen him.
And the scary thing for rival teams is the brilliant young Knights fullback is set to make his long-awaited return from a shoulder reconstruction stronger, faster and potentially more explosive than ever before.
Thanks to a torturous five month rehab program that has included regular 9 and 10km running days, Knights high performance boss Balin Cupples is confident Ponga is now in the best shape he has ever been in ahead of his comeback match against the Titans on the Gold Coast tomorrow.
Cupples praised Ponga's commitment to getting himself back to full fitness just ahead of schedule after his shoulder surgery at the end of last season.
"For someone who hasn't had the volume of team training over that period, for him to come back and hit some of his previous running benchmarks like he has is outstanding and he did that six to eight weeks ago," Cupples said.
"He has only got better since then.
"He was already strong around the hips but this rehab period with his shoulder injury has allowed him to work even harder and target his lower body area.
"If you look through Kalyn's mid-section and even the size and bulk of his legs, he has really built up and that will hopefully translate into a stronger performance and better acceleration and hopefully, he'll be even more explosive in the contact.
"He's definitely put the work in so we'd like to think he will reap the benefits."
Watson, who will partner Blake Green in the halves against the Titans, claimed there were added benefits for him at home now that Ponga is back on deck.
'It's awesome and it's good for home life too," he said. "Hopefully, he'll be in a better mood when he gets home because he's not getting flogged every day anymore.
"He's normally so up-beat but he's been getting flogged and getting a bit antsy seeing us getting into game mode while he's got to go and do 9-10 km days.
"It's been tough for him, anyone would be in a mood after that. But now he's back, he's excited. I can't wait to play with him. He's been training pretty good and in the fittest shape I've seen him. He's running well so it will be good."
Watson said he is not fazed by yet another positional change due to the club's injury crisis.
"I'll play anywhere. I'm just excited to be back playing footy to be honest," he said.
"I didn't get to play much last year and the last few years, I've battled through injury troubles so just to string four, going on five, games together has been nice. It doesn't matter where I play, I'll do a job for the team.
"I've played a fair chunk of footy at 6 so it's not a foreign role to me at all and it's good having Greeny [Blake Green] at halfback because he's a very controlling sort of player and he'll take care of that and allow me and Kalyn to do our things on the back of it."
Asked about the lengthy injury list, Watson said: "We are sort of lucky in that sense with Greeny as well returning last week from the ACL just with the timing. You never want injuries but we are lucky to get those two back.
"It's a next-man-up mentality and it's a good opportunity for some other guys to go and play some first grade. It will be good to see Randy [Chris Randall] get a bit of time out there so I'm looking forward to playing with him. I haven't been on the field with him at all and he's one of my good mates so it will be awesome."
