{"id":659531,"date":"2026-05-09T09:23:19","date_gmt":"2026-05-09T09:23:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/659531\/"},"modified":"2026-05-09T09:23:19","modified_gmt":"2026-05-09T09:23:19","slug":"kalyn-ponga-finds-out-tom-dearden-is-out-of-state-of-origin-game-1-newcastle-knights-press-conference-video-reaction","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/659531\/","title":{"rendered":"Kalyn Ponga finds out Tom Dearden is out of State of Origin game 1, Newcastle Knights press conference, video, reaction"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cS***… f***\u201d.<\/p>\n

Maroons hopeful Kalyn Ponga couldn\u2019t hide his surprise when he found out that halfback Tom Dearden had been ruled out<\/a> for the series opener later in the month.<\/p>\n

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Fox League\u2019s Lara Pitt revealed the news to the Knights captain in Saturday afternoon\u2019s press conference after Ponga inspired Newcastle to a big 44-10 win over the Dragons<\/a>, improving his own chances of an Origin call-up.<\/p>\n

Whether it is Ponga or Reece Walsh lining up in the fullback jersey for Queensland remains to be seen, but one player who won\u2019t be there at Accor Stadium is Dearden after the Cowboys confirmed an ankle injury would sideline him for six to eight weeks.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s pretty bad,\u201d Ponga said after learning of the news. <\/p>\n

\u201cI feel for Tommy. He\u2019s been playing good footy. I know how hard he works, how much he loves his footy, how much he loves Queensland, he\u2019s going to be shattered. I think Queensland\u2019s going to be shattered. <\/p>\n

\u201cObviously I want to play good footy next week. My focus is getting that right and just see what happens after that.\u201d <\/p>\n

WHO REPLACES DEARDEN? Six options Billy Slater could turn to<\/a><\/p>\n

Young talks through ‘ugly’ first half | 05:41<\/p>\n

That approach to the Origin talk seems to be working for Ponga, who impressed on Saturday with seven linebreak assists, just as many tackle busts and 176 run metres. <\/p>\n

When Holbrook was asked about Ponga\u2019s chances of selection, the Knights fullback jokingly urged his coach to \u201cnot answer that\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am biased towards my own players… but I\u2019ve got enough to worry about, I\u2019m worried about coaching our footy team,\u201d Holbrook said. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s an exciting part of the year, Origin. It gets everybody talking about it. But I won\u2019t waste too much time or worry too much about it. <\/p>\n

\u201cYou always want to play at a high level, it\u2019s a good reward for them. But again, I\u2019ll stay out of it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Get all the latest NRL news, highlights and analysis delivered straight to your inbox with Fox Sports Sportmail. Sign up now!!!<\/a><\/p>\n

Knights slay Dragons in Wollongong | 03:16<\/p>\n

Ponga isn\u2019t the only Knights player in Origin calculations, with Bradman Best continuing to build his case after scoring a try, setting up another two and rumbling his way to 171 metres against the Dragons. <\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s such a good strike centre… attacking and defensively, he\u2019s outstanding,\u201d Knights coach Justin Holbrook said of Best.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s such a good strike centre… attacking and defensively, he\u2019s outstanding. It\u2019s up to whatever they (selectors) do over the next couple of weeks but I\u2019ll be thrilled for him if he got picked. He\u2019s such a class player.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jacob Saifiti has also been in fine form and is one option to help fill the void up front with Payne Haas unavailable.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cS***… f***\u201d. Maroons hopeful Kalyn Ponga couldn\u2019t hide his surprise when he found out that halfback Tom Dearden…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":659532,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[568],"tags":[64,63,761,762,158,85],"class_list":["post-659531","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\/659531","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=659531"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/659531\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/659532"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=659531"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=659531"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=659531"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}