https://www.newcastleknights.com.au/news/2026/04/25/kalyn-ponga-signs-landmark-contract-extension/
Surely this brings Fletcher Sharpe's availability into play?
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"Thanks mate. The Manly team are shit to be fair. They are coming last in JF with no SG ball players in the team still.
Jordan Rankin has been doing a great job recently. He deserves a massive shout out."
Jordan Rankin has been doing a great job recently. He deserves a massive shout out."
"Yeah they won 70% of the twenty games prior to Galvin's arrival and only 50% in the twenty games since he arrived. It is all Gus' fault. He needs to admit he made a mistake. Everyone else is already thinking it so he needs to man up and admit it.…"
"That's not true young was at the roosters. Jenkins played terrible at the knights "
"They are going ponga fullback with sharpe and brown in the halves "
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The Fletch we will end up with, with our R&R team...
Sharpe is signed until the end of 2028.
Damn. It's almost as if the Knights are locking up elite talent. Crazy.
They are going ponga fullback with sharpe and brown in the halves
seriously who really cares
heading is a bit misleading Mutts, its only a 3yr extention as he is already signed for next year and decided to extend instead of waiting till novenber and go to market.
The Newcastle Knights have dropped a surprise on the NRL landscape, locking in the future of Kalyn Ponga until at least the end of 2030.
The star fullback has been linked to other NRL clubs repeatedly in recent seasons, and was also believed to be considering a stint in rugby union to chase a dream of playing for the All Blacks.
The Knights' exceptional start to the 2026 NRL season though has led him to not make it to the November 1 free agency deadline, instead signing a three-year extension with the Knights through to the end of 2030.
The contract will see he and Dylan Brown continue to lead the club's spine for the foreseeable future, and all but guarantees he will finish his career in the Hunter.
Already 28, Ponga will be 32 by the time his new deal ends.
“Kalyn is an elite player and an elite person and re-signing him is massive for us,” head coach Justin Holbrook said of his re-signing.
“His leadership within this group is exceptional. He sets the standard every single day, in training, in games, in the way he carries himself, and the players in this squad look to him.
“That kind of influence is invaluable as we continue to build toward the goals we have set for this club. He is one of the leading players in the NRL and he is ours. I could not be more pleased.”
The million-dollar plus player will be under enormous pressure to deliver a premiership to Newcastle under the coaching of Justin Holbrook, who has made a strong impression on the playing group during his first months in charge.
It was thought Ponga may exit Newcastle given salary cap pressures brought on by Brown's signing, but the duo, who could both represent New Zealand at this year's Rugby League World Cup, will have time to build their combination alongside an exciting crop of young talent emerging at the club, led by Fletcher Sharpe, Dylan Lucas and Fletcher Hunt among others.
The deal will ensure Ponga spends at least 13 years at the club, and the club's head of recruitment Peter O'Sullivan said it was the kind of deal that proves Newcastle are fighting for a premiership.
“When this new deal concludes, Kalyn will have been a Newcastle Knight for at least 13 seasons. That is an extraordinary commitment and one that speaks volumes about who he is as a person and a player,” O'Sullivan said.
“From a recruitment and retention perspective, this is exactly the kind of signing that underpins our strategy to bring Premiership success to the Knights.
“Retaining your very best players, the ones who understand your culture, who drive your standards, who want to win here, is fundamental to everything we are trying to achieve.
“Kalyn makes every player he plays alongside better and with the exceptional young talent we have coming through, there are exciting times ahead for this squad.”
From the start of the 2024 season up until today the Knights have played 55 premiership games and Ponga has been involved in 31. That is only 56%. Surely this must be considered when putting a valuation on him. If he is worth $1,500,000 per season, his 56% of games played over the past 2 and a quarter seasons puts his value at about $800,000 or less for this 5 year extension.
Yeah he's a very risky signing, and difficult to price. If he plays 20+ games he's worth $1.5M for sure, but in eight full seasons at the Knights, he's only played 20 games three times. It's only round 8 this year and he will have missed six games already.