Ponga reveals mental challenge as Knights hold off Eels
Dave Lyall |
Kalyn Ponga has revealed the mental challenge he faced to bounce back from his State of Origin send-off before leading the Knights to a scrappy 28-22 win over the gallant Eels.
Ponga escaped with a fine for his grade-two shoulder charge on Tolu Koula in Origin I on Wednesday night, but showed no signs of the mental scars with a typically busy display at McDonald Jones Stadium in Newcastle on Saturday afternoon.
Dylan Lucas, fresh from Origin camp with NSW, was brilliant for Newcastle, scoring a double and proving a handful on the left edge for Parramatta half Ronald Volkman, while fellow NSW Blue Jacob Saifiti was menacing.
The Knights (8-4) have now won four on the trot, scoring 150 points in the process, and are fourth on the ladder midway through the season.
“It was more mentally (demanding),” Ponga said of backing up three days after such an emotional night.
“Physically, I actually felt pretty good out there, which is a credit to our staff, the way they handled the last 48 hours, and it’s all mentally like the build-up of Origin, obviously the way Origin unfolded, and then to sort of park it and mentally prepare for another game.
“I think now that I’m older, I’m probably better at doing it, but yeah, it’s all mental.
“I was excited to get back around the boys, around my teammates. Probably selfishly, I wanted to play with my mates. I didn’t want to sit on the sidelines. I wanted to be out there.”
Both sides scored two tries in the first half, the Knights heading into the sheds up 12-10.
The second half began disastrously for the Eels, with Newcastle bench hooker Harrison Graham splitting some porous defence on 44 minutes to run 50 metres from dummy half to score under the sticks.
What followed was a horrific period where both sides struggled to hold on to the ball, coughing up seven handling errors in 10 minutes.
When the handling errors slowed, Lucas scored his second for the Knights, only for Jordan Samrani to touch down for the Eels, before Fletcher Hunt again stretched the lead, only to see Isaiah Iongi set up a grandstand finish with a try with six minutes remaining.
Parramatta coach Jason Ryles was left ruing some missed opportunities from his young side, who were without a host of experienced first-graders, including Mitch Moses and skipper Junior Paulo.
“It’s disappointing in the end,” Ryles said of the loss.
“(I) thought we tried really hard, the effort was there, we fought really hard, but unfortunately execution let us down.
“I reckon we left probably four tries out there that were genuine tries, so another week of lessons, and just little moments in games that are so important that are fundamental, which hurts, but it’s part of the journey, and we’ve just got to keep fighting hard and working hard to make sure we don’t let that happen.
“It is a very young side, but we’ve been really focused on what we can control, and that’s our best prep each week.
“They’re trying their hearts out, and they’re getting some lessons with the big boys, so it’s all part of it, but … we had a mini bus bring our injured blokes up today, that’s kind of where we’re at.
“So to produce the effort and the fight that the boys did out there today, I’m really proud of them.”
AAP