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Knights icon Paul Harragon has called Kalyn Ponga a one-in-20-year player destined to win a grand final, as Newcastle prepare to face the Roosters on Sunday.
Newcastle Knights icon Paul Harragon has lauded Kalyn Ponga as a one-in-20-year player destined to lead the club to a drought-breaking premiership, ahead of Sunday's grand final against the Roosters.
Harragon, who captained the Knights to the 1997 title during the Super League war, said Ponga's leadership has lifted the club to another level this season. The praise follows a seismic 76th-minute shot from Ponga on Moses Leota in the preliminary final. Ponga, giving away 15 kilos to one of the best front-rowers in the NRL, rocked the Kiwi enforcer the same way Harragon rocked so many opponents throughout his 1990s heyday.
Harragon Praises Ponga Leadership
To stand up under fatigue, late in the half, with only 12 players, and pull off a colossal hit on their alpha front-rower as captain, that tells your team, your club and town, that we are not losing today, Harragon said. That was an incredible piece of leadership and it came from an incredible will to win. I have been blown away by what I have seen from Kalyn this year, he said.
Harragon said Ponga is taking the club to another level and a player of his quality will not go through his career without winning a grand final. Not when he is playing the way he is now, Harragon said. His laid-back style of leadership has evolved and I am amazed at the way he is carrying himself and what he is doing. On the back of his will alone, he has lifted this club to this position.
And he will lift them again. Harragon has no formal ties to the Knights these days beyond old boys events, but he is regularly around the club. He was on hand when senior players realigned Newcastle's key values after a miserable 2025 campaign. Kalyn was adamant about making sure winning was the word, the value, that was put up in lights, Harragon said.
Ponga Leadership Evolution
A lot of the past players were around and brought in for that one, and we have all noticed the switch in him. The tweak in his leadership, he has added steel to that laid-back nature of his, and I think it just gives his teammates a real confidence and calm in him. That everything is going to be OK.
Harragon, born and bred in Kurri Kurri, can finally say that loud and proud about his club as young forwards Cody Hopwood, Lachlan Crouch, Jermaine McEwen and Francis Manuleleua punch well above their weight ahead of Sunday's grand final. Hopwood and Crouch are local products, as are Fletcher Sharpe and Bradman Best out wide. The Knights junior ranks produced strong results in several competitions this season.
Local Juniors And Community Roots
The Hunter region had six Australian schoolboy representatives, a record for the area, just a year after Harragon, Andrew Johns and Danny Buderus met with Newcastle officials. Harragon also joined Brad Fittler and Andrew Johns at Nine HQ on Tuesday. That was such a sore point for me, we need to get that competitive advantage back, Harragon said. We lost our way.
We won two titles in 1997 and 2001 with a lot of local juniors and we just turned our back on what made us great. I played for the Knights and I played Australian and slept in my own bed at home at my mum and dad's, I did not have to go to Sydney, and we just stopped looking after our own.
For proof, Harragon says, look no further than the fan turnout for last Sunday's preliminary final and the grand final, and the week to come. And these young players, and Kalyn, the inner giants that are coming out of them, and they are playing beyond what anything thinks they are probably capable of, that is because they are playing for something bigger than themselves, Harragon said. You do not do special things when you are playing for yourself.
You do that for a bigger cause. They are tapping into playing for the club and playing for Newcastle.
brisbanetimes 
theage:‘We’re not losing today’: The moment Paul Harragon knew Ponga would lead Knights to greatness 
smh:‘We’re not losing today’: The moment Paul Harragon knew Ponga would lead Knights to greatnessThis story was compiled and edited by the HeadTopics newsroom and HT AI from the reports above.
Newcastle Knights Kalyn Ponga Paul Harragon Sydney Roosters Moses Leota
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