{"id":323873,"date":"2025-12-03T00:41:21","date_gmt":"2025-12-03T00:41:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/323873\/"},"modified":"2025-12-03T00:41:21","modified_gmt":"2025-12-03T00:41:21","slug":"newcastle-knights-signing-dylan-brown-wants-kalyn-ponga-to-help-him-take-world-cup-off-australia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/323873\/","title":{"rendered":"Newcastle Knights signing Dylan Brown wants Kalyn Ponga to help him take World Cup off Australia"},"content":{"rendered":"

To represent the Kiwis, as the rules stand, the 27-year-old would need to turn his back on Queensland and request an official exemption from the International Rugby League, given he has previously represented Australia at the 2019 World Nines.<\/p>\n

Alternatively, there has been speculation the ARL Commission will relax the selection criteria so dual-qualified players, such as Ponga, Victor Radley and Addin Fonua-Blake, can play Origin and for nations other than Australia.<\/p>\n

\"Dylan<\/p>\n

Dylan Brown (left) was outstanding as New Zealand took out the Pacific Championships.Credit: Getty Images<\/p>\n

Either way, Brown believes Ponga would be a great addition to a New Zealand squad that next year will be chasing its first World Cup trophy since 2008. Australia beat Samoa 30-10 to win the title in 2022.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019d be cool,\u201d Brown said. \u201cI think he\u2019s actually starting to find a lot of love for his culture. I think his dad\u2019s Maori, and his sister is over living in New Zealand.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe\u2019s real connected, so hopefully she convinces him to come. It\u2019d be awesome seeing him in the black jersey, because he\u2019s a great talent.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ponga remains non-committal about his international allegiance. In 2024, he declared himself unavailable for the Kangaroos, only to backflip after angering coach Mal Meninga<\/a>, who proceeded to omit him from the squad anyway.<\/p>\n

In a recent radio interview with New Zealand station Sport Nation, Ponga said: \u201cAll my values, who I am, everything that I am, really is back in New Zealand. It\u2019s my family, it\u2019s my culture.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Kalyn<\/p>\n

Kalyn Ponga in action for Australia at the 2019 World Nines.Credit: NRL Photos<\/p>\n

But when asked about international football, he was still keeping his cards close to his chest, saying: \u201cI\u2019m yet to put on a representative jersey for a nation, so not sure how that\u2019s going to pan out.\u201d<\/p>\n

Loading<\/p>\n

Brown\u2019s New Zealand and Newcastle teammate Phoenix Crossland has spoken to Ponga about linking with the Kiwis.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s everything the team needs,\u201d Crossland said. \u201cHe\u2019s a Kiwi. I know \u2018Stace\u2019 [coach Stacey Jones] and the boys would love to have him here.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut it\u2019s up to him, and obviously the rules as well. I think if he could find a way to get around the rules, he would make the switch. I know he\u2019s a very proud Maori. His family is all from New Zealand.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo get him in camp would be pretty special. I think he\u2019s pretty keen. But as I said, it\u2019s up to him and the rules as well.\u201d<\/p>\n

Brown had no doubt New Zealand, after dominating the Pacific Championships, were capable of surpassing that by winning their second World Cup next November.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s anyone\u2019s game on a big day,\u201d the 25-year-old new father said. \u201cAnything can happen. I\u2019m sure everyone\u2019s going to come ready and there\u2019s going to be some good competition next year.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"To represent the Kiwis, as the rules stand, the 27-year-old would need to turn his back on Queensland…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":323874,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[568],"tags":[64,63,761,762,158,85],"class_list":["post-323873","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nrl","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-national-rugby-league","tag-nationalrugbyleague","tag-nrl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/323873","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=323873"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/323873\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/323874"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=323873"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=323873"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=323873"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}