NRL veteran Aaron Woods has instructed Kalyn Ponga to “grow up” after the Newcastle Knights skipper lastly broke his silence on the bathroom cubicle saga.
Ponga confronted the media on Monday for the primary time since he and teammate Kurt Mann had been captured on movie leaving a bathroom cubicle in a Newcastle Pub in August.
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Both gamers had been out injured on the time and confronted heavy scrutiny for his or her actions whereas their teammates had been interstate, however escaped sanction from each the Knights and the NRL.
Ponga, who was shielded from the media for six months following the incident, admitted he was within the mistaken however maintained Mann was within the cubicle to “help” as he had fallen unwell.
“Putting myself in that position. I shouldn’t have been out in the first place,” Ponga instructed reporters.
“I was in the wrong there. “I shouldn’t have been out in the first place. I do support the boys, they know that.”
Speaking on the LiSTNR podcast Footy Talk, Dragons star Woods was mistaken to have waited so lengthy to deal with the difficulty.
“He’s club captain. You can’t hide,” he stated.
“You’ve got to come out and front-foot it. He should have just spoke about it then,” he stated. “He went into the toilets with Kurt Mann. They did whatever they did. Come out and move on. Just front-foot it there straight away. Now it’s dragged on … six months, eight months … however long it’s been. We’re coming into a new season.
Woods said all it did was create a distraction for the Knights heading into the pre-season matches.
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“Obviously he’s coming off his (calf) injury. Hopefully he’s getting his first trial this week.
“Now we’re bloody talking about the toilet again. He’s just got to knock it on the head.
“You want to be captain.
“I know he’s got this blasé attitude, he’s a pretty cruisy type but when he crosses the field he’s straight onto it … but when you’re club captain, you’ve got sponsors and all that you’ve got to look after, you just need to front-foot these little things.”
Woods maintained his was an enormous fan of Ponga as a participant however that it was time he matured into the chief the Knights want.
”You’re not a child, mate. You’ve acquired to develop up. You’re the captain of the membership and also you’re the face of it, he’s one of many superstars of our recreation, he’s one of many highest earners,” he stated.
“You’ve just got to front-foot those things so we can just knock it on the back (and) we don’t need to go on about it for the new year of footy.”
Woods’ feedback comply with criticism from veteran rugby league reporter Phil Rothfield who, previous to Ponga’s look on Monday, urged him to point out regret.
“He’s super fit despite a calf injury, but I’d just like to see him today at this press conference, as captain of the club, I think it is important to take a bit of ownership and tell people what happened.
“Show a little bit of remorse, I don’t like the fact that he’s been hidden away for the last six months.”
Source web site: www.foxsports.com.au
