{"id":327913,"date":"2023-09-02T06:52:37","date_gmt":"2023-09-02T06:52:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=327913"},"modified":"2023-09-02T11:01:16","modified_gmt":"2023-09-02T11:01:16","slug":"unbelievable-ponga-draws-legendary-comparisons","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=327913","title":{"rendered":"'Unbelievable' Ponga draws legendary comparisons"},"content":{"rendered":"

Andrew Johns<\/a> has said that Kalyn Ponga<\/a> is in the midst of one of the best stretches of form the NRL<\/a> has ever seen.<\/p>\n

Ponga's resurgence has been one of the key factors in the Knights<\/a> midseason resurgence, which has seen them win their last eight straight matches to have them sitting fifth on the ladder.<\/p>\n

They can lock in a home final with a victory over the Dragons on Saturday night.<\/p>\n

FOLLOW LIVE:<\/strong> NRL and NRLW Saturday action<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> Dogs must be 'honest' after year ends in turmoil<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> 'Saved my life': Forgotten act from epic semi-final<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

\"Kalyn<\/p>\n

Speaking on Wide World of Sports' Immortal Behaviour<\/em><\/a>, Johns said Ponga's form was in the same mould as Jarryd Hayne's, who lifted Parramatta from the cellars to the 2009 grand final, Brett Mullins' sustained form through the mid-90s, and Tom Trbojevic in 2021.<\/p>\n

"Those three players … Kalyn's doing that now. Kalyn is in that class, [with] what he's done in the last eight weeks. It's been unbelievable," he said.<\/p>\n

Stream the NRL premiership 2023 live and free on<\/strong><\/em> 9Now<\/strong><\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

But despite Ponga's form, Johns said he couldn't see the Knights winning the premiership.<\/p>\n

"They've won the last eight straight, so you could say they've been playing pretty much some semi-final footy," he said.<\/p>\n

\"Bradman<\/p>\n

But should they go the distance and win the big dance, the Knights will have had to win 13 on the trot.<\/p>\n

"They've been right up for it … [but] it'll take a huge effort. No one's done it since the NRL started. Parramatta went close," Johns said.<\/p>\n

"I spoke to Mitchell Moses about it recently and he said, 'Mate, grand final week I was flat, flat as a pancake'."<\/p>\n

"It's just so hard. It's physically hard, but it's more mentally. To get yourself up to go out and play a big game mentally. It takes so much out of you. So, I'd say, I would love to say yes, but it's highly doubtful."<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Andrew Johns has said that Kalyn Ponga is in the midst of one of the best stretches of form the NRL has ever seen. Ponga's […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":327915,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/327913"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=327913"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/327913\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":327917,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/327913\/revisions\/327917"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/327915"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=327913"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=327913"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=327913"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}