Knights famous person Kalyn Ponga “couldn’t believe” he was taken from the sector for a HIA within the dying levels of his facet’s conflict towards the Warriors, stating he was “literally fine”.
The 24-year-old marquee playmaker was dragged from the sector by the impartial physician with 11 minutes left within the sport because the rating sat 14-12 to the hosts.
Ponga collided with Warriors prop Addin Fonua-Blake however was clearly shocked when referee Chris Sutton gave him his marching orders.
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Speaking within the post-match press convention, Ponga defined he is aware of what it feels prefer to be knocked out, having suffered three nasty head knocks in six weeks earlier than being dominated out in 2022.
“It will be interesting to see their take on it, I have been knocked out before and definitely wasn’t in any state,” Ponga mentioned.
“I couldn’t believe it, 10 minutes to go, game on the line, I am literally fine, I think there’s an assessment that normally goes on but I got taken off by an independent doctor.
“It caught me by surprise, I said to the ref ‘I’m not going off’, but it’s not his call, it is someone in a box.”
Ponga was additionally confused why he wasn’t capable of full a head knock evaluation with a membership physician on the sector.
“I did it in the tunnel but it is a ten minute process, but there’s usually a process on the field where they check your balance,” Ponga mentioned.
“But that wasn’t the case because it was an independent doctor in a box somewhere, came straight off.”
However, head coach Adam O’Brien defined the impartial physician dominated the knock a Category Two blow, which means Ponga wasn’t allowed to be checked on the sector.
Frizell dominated out after failing HIA | 00:32
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O’Brien was additionally clearly annoyed he misplaced his key playmaker in a vital second and mentioned the Bunker was “jumping at shadows”.
“There was a minute to go, so it ruled him out of the game,” O’Brien mentioned.
“But he was unaware of any incident, like he said, he knows what they feel like.
“And we’ve worked really hard, he has to get himself back in the game and now we are jumping at shadows to get him out of the game, I don’t get it.”
Despite shedding their opening conflict of the season, O’Brien was completely happy his facet have been capable of keep within the sport and overcome adversity with Tyson Frizell failing a HIA within the first half.
“I was really proud with the effort defensively, we had to overcome some stuff tonight, we lost Frizell early, Phoenix got put in the bin,” O’Brien mentioned.
“We defended with 12 men, then Kurt gets taken off the back of the dead ball line, and we are down to 12 again, and then they take him off.
“We had a bit to get through… I am really proud of the character of the group.”
Elsewhere Warriors coach Andrew Webster was completely happy to see the again of the marquee gun.
“I wasn’t disappointed to see Ponga go off, but I don’t know if it was right or a bad call,” Webster mentioned.
“He is obviously a great player.”
Source web site: www.foxsports.com.au
