Knights captain Kalyn Ponga has been linked to a switch to European rugby union, despite being contracted to the club until the end of the 2027 season.
On the same day it was reported the Knights are preparing to sack coach Adam O’Brien, it has emerged that Ponga’s team has hired a New Zealand-based rugby union agent to gauge the market for a potential code switch.
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Speaking on NRL 360, journalist Brent Read revealed an agent has been “shopping” Ponga to European rugby clubs.
“Obviously there’s been whispers around Kalyn Ponga for some time, and rugby union,” Read said.
“He’s contracted with the Knights until the end of 2027.
“But, an agent, a New Zealand-based agent, rugby union agent, has been shopping Kalyn around Europe.
“Now, I’ve been in contact with the Ponga camp today and I didn’t really get a straight answer out of them.
“But what I’ve gleaned from their text messages is if he’s being shopped around Europe, it’s being done without them giving the agent the green light.
“That’s what’s happening at the moment with Kalyn Ponga, he’s being shopped, his name’s been mentioned by this rebel rugby competition that’s going on at the moment so he is on the radar of rugby union clubs.”
According to Read, there are no clauses in Ponga’s contract.
“If he’s being shopped to other sports, then that’s in breach of his contract,” Read added.
Host Braith Anasta wondered, given that Ponga is close with coach Adam O’Brien, whether the doubts around O’Brien’s future, would contribute to Ponga wanting to exit the club.
“There’s always been a question mark over Kalyn and his future at Newcastle, whether he’s happy there, does he see success there?” Anasta asked.
“He wants to win premierships. He wants to play rugby union.
“And he’s close to Adam O’Brien. So you’d think if Adam O’Brien won’t be there next year, the future of Kalyn at this club is in doubt, right?”
Read responded by saying Ponga’s future has been up in the air either way.
“Well I think it’s been in doubt for a while Braith, regardless,” Read replied.
The SMH have reported that Ponga is willing to leave the Knights at season’s end under the proviso he can end up in a favourable situation.
Whether that’s another NRL club or rugby union, that remains to be seen. What is clear though is Ponga is keen to keep his options open.
Ponga has not yet asked Newcastle for a release but there are people in high places at the Knights who are willing to entertain an early release for the star fullback given the emergence of young gun Fletcher Sharpe this season.
According to The Daily Telegraph’s Phil Rothfield, who was also on the panel, Ponga is the highest paid player in the NRL, on a $1.5 million salary.
Anasta asked if the Knights would consider allowing Ponga to leave, to free up a huge chunk of their salary cap.
“Is there a chance that Newcastle could let him go, given the money he’s on, and the results they’ve had there over the past few years?” Anasta asked.
Rothfield responded by saying Anasta’s idea had merit.
“Well, the way he’s playing, you make a really, really good point,” Rothfield said.
“Because, outside of the first two or three games, he’s had a really ordinary season, for the highest paid player in rugby league.”
Rothfield compared the Ponga situation to Sonny Bill Williams’ exit from the NRL in 2008.
Williams was only in the first season of a watertight five-year contract with the Bulldogs, that was due to expire at the end of the 2012 season.
But without the club’s knowledge, he boarded a plane to France to play rugby union with Toulon, leaving Williams in breach of his contract.
“What I find with this story, it so reminds me of Sonny Bill Williams, all those years ago,” Rothfield added.
“He had a watertight contract at the Canterbury Bulldogs, he just took off.
“There was a court case, he lost the court case. He had to borrow money from Anthony Mundine to pay a significant amount of money to Canterbury to get out of that contract.
“If Kalyn has done this, whether the agent’s acting with Kalyn’s approval, we don’t know, but he’d be in all sorts of legal trouble.”
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But Read said Ponga wouldn’t follow in Williams’ footsteps.
“I don’t think Kalyn would go down that path,” Read added.
“I think if he wanted to leave rugby league and go to rugby union, at the end of this season, he’ll sit down with the Knights.
“With due respect to Kalyn, it’s injury related, but they haven’t really got their value for money out of him.”
Rothfield believes Ponga, in 2025, is no longer in the top 10 players in the NRL.
“On form we’ve seen this year, he’s not in the top 10, he’s slipped quite substantially,” Rothfield said.
“When you’re paying the highest paid player in the league $1.5 million, it might be a wise salary cap move, with Fletcher Sharpe around, to offload him.”
Co-host Gorden Tallis said he felt the Knights should hold onto Ponga.
“They’d be crazy to let him go,” Tallis said.
Read wondered where the developments on Ponga would leave Dylan Brown, who has signed with the Knights on a $13 million, 10-year deal, beginning in 2026.
Read said Brown would have signed with the Knights thinking Ponga would be at the club.
“Imagine what Dylan Brown thinks right now because he thinks he’s going to Newcastle, to play with Kalyn Ponga, and that’s a lure for him, I imagine,” Read said.
“So, to think that maybe he won’t, if you’re Dylan Brown, I mean that’s got to be a shock for you.”
