Distraught Knights captain Kalyn Ponga felt like he had let his teammates down after another concussion forced him from the field just eight minutes into Newcastle’s 42-12 loss to Sydney Roosters at McDonald Jones Stadium on Friday night.
Ponga was in tears in the Newcastle dressing-room after failing a head injury assessment – his fifth HIA this season – and suffering his third concussion in the past six weeks after being hit in a high tackle by Roosters prop Matt Lodge.
The Queensland Origin match-winner tried to step inside Lodge in the eighth minute but Lodge’s left arm made contact with his jaw, then the back of his head hit the ground as he fell.
“He’s upset at the moment. He wants to come back and play well at the club, especially after Origin, but we’ll go through the process during the week,” Knights coach Adam O’Brien told reporters at the post-match media conference.
“He’s had a couple [of these] but I’m more concerned about how upset he is at the moment. He’s pretty emotional and he feels like he’s let everyone down, but at the end of the day, he’s copped a whack to the head – and he’s had a couple – so we need to go and get it all looked at.”
Ponga fails his HIA
O’Brien said Ponga, who earlier this season signed a rich new five-year contract with the Knights, would see concussion specialist Dr Chris Levi at Newcastle’s John Hunter Hospital in coming days for further assessment and examination.
Though it has been suggested that the Knights should consider shutting Ponga down for the season now that the finals are out of reach, O’Brien said it was too early to speculate about such actions.
"He’s emotionally upset that he feels like he’s let the team down a little bit.”
Knights coach Adam O'Brien
“He’ll obviously go and see Chris Levi during the week and we’ll go from there,” he said. “But I think it’s probably too premature for me to comment on too much when I’m not really skilled in it all, so we’ll just send him to the people that know a lot more than me.
Roosters coach Trent Robinson felt for Ponga but did not believe Lodge, who was penalised for the tackle, had a case to answer.
“This is the opposition coach saying it but to be honest, I didn’t think it was much,” Robinson said.
“I felt really sorry for Kalyn, because it’s happened a couple of times … and it was really tough for Newcastle. As soon as Kalyn went off, you sort of knew that they were going to struggle on their creativity on the back of any opportunities they got.
“But I think it clipped off the body and then up, then it clipped him, and I think it was the head that hit the ground. I didn’t think it was that much."
Roosters utility Connor Watson, a former housemate of Ponga’s during their time as teammates in Newcastle, hopes his friend takes some time off to rest and recuperate.
“It was a weird one for me because you’re trying to worry about the game then that happens to one of your best mates,” Watson told NRL.com before heading to the Newcastle shed to check on his mate.
“He’s a tough character but it’s just one of those things, because head knocks are a bit of the unknown. There’s more and more science on it now, so he’s probably going to have to have a little bit of time off, I’d say.
“I’m not exactly sure with the rules and stuff, but hopefully he can have a bit of time off and get it sorted but it’s hard, you know. How do you control getting hit in the head?
“It’s a contact sport, but I really feel for him.”
Playing for Queensland, Ponga did not return after suffering a head knock in the final minutes of Origin II in Perth on June 26, and was ruled out of Newcastle’s game against Gold Coast five days later.
He failed an HIA against Penrith on June 12 and was ruled out, as was the case against the Roosters on Friday. Earlier this season, Ponga passed his HIA and returned to the field against Manly on April 7 and did likewise against Parramatta on April 24.
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