Kalyn Ponga, like a ghost from his viral video, haunts beaten Blues in State of Origin decider

Three minutes and 57 seconds of astounding highlights made him a superstar two years before he reached the NRL. Two million views and counting, all for a 16-year-old Churchie First XV player.

In State of Origin III, the ghost of that otherworldly kid appeared at Suncorp Stadium to haunt NSW.

Come the 61st minute of arguably the greatest decider in history, the violent right-foot step that torched scores of Brisbane schoolboys buried the great James Tedesco.

Deceptively strong at 92kg and 184cm, Ponga took a pass from captain Daly Cherry-Evans then goose-stepped straight through Jarome Luai and Siosifa Talakai. Five metres and Tedesco stood between him and the tryline.

Tedesco could barely lay a finger on Ponga. Even in the midst of a champion performance, he was left inert as the phantom Maroons No.1 flashed by.

Queensland took the lead. They never lost it.

“The critics were out for Kalyn Ponga, asking him to step up in game three … and has he done that and then some,” Queensland icon Cameron Smith marvelled. Ponga ran 226m, trailing only Tedesco (243m), and was named man of the match.

It was Ponga’s first try, from seven Origins. It was his first series win, having missed the 2020 miracle after opting for shoulder surgery amid whispers that he couldn’t be bothered playing post-NRL season.

Ponga denied it. He’s denied plenty of sniping about his attitude since travelling to the NRL aboard the greatest hype train outside The Indian Pacific, the legendary railway that links his birth state of WA with the rugby league-mad east coast.

The 2014 highlight reel Kalyn Ponga looked too good to be true. He was, until Origin III.

His freakish skill had kept delivering ‘wow’ moments since his 2016 NRL debut but few of gravity. Everyone who saw Ponga in that old video has spent eight years waiting for him to dominate on the biggest stage, to become a superstar in more than name.

He just did.

“I’m super proud. Proud of the boys, coaching staff, support staff. I’m proud of myself, to be honest, as well,” he told Nine, displaying the quirky personality that sometimes rubs observers the wrong way. “It’s my first series win, so it’s a pretty surreal feeling.

“These are the games you want to be a part of, these are the games you dream of as a kid and I’m glad I was part of it.”

Only in April did Ponga finally dispensed with the notion that his talent was bigger than rugby league, signing a five-year Newcastle Knights contract that omitted his much-touted ‘All Blacks clause’; an option in his favour to ditch the NRL for New Zealand Test rugby. He was paid more than $1 million per season to commit fully, a salary warranted only by a combination of marketability and performance, rather than merit alone.

At 24, he and ambitious father/manager Andre hold the Knights in the palm of their hands. Yet Kalyn Ponga, franchise player, has not yet translated to success for long-suffering Newcastle; not as the club would have hoped after luring him from North Queensland four years ago on historic money for a teenager. The Knights are running 12th this season with a poor 5-11 record. Ponga is at least cemented as a fullback, having failed in an attempted transition to five-eighth during 2019; a Darren Lockyer switch minus the prerequisite success as an elite No.1.

There are few players more exciting than Ponga. And arguably, few more polarising.

In May, Queensland great Corey Parker named an eight-man list of legitimate $1 million per season players. Ponga, pointedly, was not among them.

“He’s just signed a Knights deal worth more than $1 million per season and based on recent performances, plenty of Newcastle fans would be sitting there scratching their heads,” Parker wrote.

“Ponga is a wonderfully talented player but personally, I would struggle to sign him as a $1 million man to build your club around.

“He’s worth that sort of money to the right people; clearly to Newcastle. But I wouldn’t sign him for that much on a couple of fronts.

“A $1 million player has to be absolutely invested in the game, their team and their club. I don’t see that from Ponga. Not the type of deep, wholehearted investment you’d want from your marquee player.

“I nearly fell off my chair when I heard his comments after a 50-2 loss to Melbourne; that he probably wouldn’t say much to his players afterwards and didn’t know what he might say. That was pretty embarrassing. He’s not only the marquee player but the captain. Where’s the ownership?

“Wayne Bennett interviewed Ponga for the Dolphins and essentially said, ‘Do you want to be a better player, or be a rock star?’ It was telling that Ponga appeared to take offence to that and duly stayed in Newcastle.”

In 2019 and already an Origin player, Ponga was the guy who responded to the demise of Knights coach Nathan Brown thus: ““I was at lunch having a nice strawberry thickshake, so I wasn’t too sad.”

There was still a schoolboy flippancy in that unfortunate comment. It has seemed to linger, at least in public perception. Ponga is the type of character who bears an exquisite Ta Moko tattoo of deep significance to his family and heritage, yet also a Nike logo, a ‘Keep It Cool’ slogan from a T-shirt venture, plus a mish-mash of other doodles.

Now, perhaps, the schoolkid is growing up. For Ponga didn’t just star in Origin III, he stood tall and led.

Queensland lost champion five-eighth Cameron Munster to Covid-19 in the build-up and thus ran out at Suncorp without their chief means of victory. Ponga assumed that role with striking maturity. For every show-stopping play there were five hard carries and he was unflappable throughout, barring one Matt Burton bomb that reached outer space. He was the best player for a makeshift Maroons side rapidly reduced to 15 men when Selwyn Cobbo and Lindsay Collins were concussed.

“The Queensland mentality is we get on with things,” Ponga said.

Ponga had played well in Origin before, yet the 2022 decider was something else. Perhaps the kid from the video learned enduring lessons this series under Billy Slater, the iconic Maroons No.1 turned winning coach; once his Queensland teammate.

Or perhaps, given Slater’s words post-match, Ponga has always been misunderstood.

“He had a great series. A real tough effort from Kalyn,” Slater said.

“I’ve always had a lot of belief in Kalyn. I love working with him, he’s a great guy and he wants to learn, he wants to be as good as he possibly can.”

Ponga began the victory lap and found Andre by the fence. They embraced as his father’s eyes welled with tears of pride.