{"id":724938,"date":"2026-06-09T10:24:17","date_gmt":"2026-06-09T10:24:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/724938\/"},"modified":"2026-06-09T10:24:17","modified_gmt":"2026-06-09T10:24:17","slug":"state-of-origin-2026-kalyn-ponga-acknowledges-mistake-in-origin-1-send-off-and-makes-vow-to-be-better","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/724938\/","title":{"rendered":"State of Origin 2026: Kalyn Ponga acknowledges mistake in Origin 1 send off and makes vow to \u2018be better\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

Kalyn Ponga has acknowledged his mistake in being sent off in Origin 1 and vowed to improve his tackling, revealing plans to lean on Maroons coach Billy Slater for advice.<\/p>\n

The Newcastle Knights star was controversially given his marching orders in the series opener, which proved the turning point as Blues came from behind to win 22-20.<\/p>\n

Watch every game of every round of the NRL Premiership LIVE with no ad-breaks during play on FOX LEAGUE, available on Kayo Sports | New to Kayo? Join now and get your first month for just $1.<\/a><\/p>\n

Ponga believes his collision with Tolu Koula was head on head, but takes accountability for giving referee Ashley Klein a decision to make.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think I definitely need to acknowledge that I can be better in moments,\u201d Ponga said after returning to Maroons camp.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat happened in game one, whether right or wrong, I still put my team in a certain position, and I think moving forward in my career, not only this game, but every game that I play from now on, I don\u2019t want that to happen.<\/p>\n

\u201dI think there\u2019s definitely some accountability on my end.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is tough, it\u2019s a position that happens in a split second.<\/p>\n

\"Maloney<\/p>\n

\u201dI\u2019m running as fast as I can, someone else is running as fast as they can to a corner, and it\u2019s not the most clear, easy thing to sort of do.<\/p>\n

\u201dBut I do acknowledge I need to be better for sure.\u201d<\/p>\n

Since the series opener Ponga has played two matches for the Knights, and raised eyebrows on Friday with another no-arm tackle on Melbourne Storm winger Will Warbrick.<\/p>\n

The fullback escaped a reprimand from the referee on that occasion but he is determined to rid the bad habit from his game, and he plans to reach out to Slater to help him do so.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think I\u2019ll have a chat with Billy and hopefully nut some of that out, but I think for me it\u2019s just getting to the position earlier so that way I can sort of steady my feet and be in a better position,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

\u201dBut I\u2019ve got someone that\u2019s the best in the game, or was the best in the game, and hopefully I can learn some things from him for sure.\u201d<\/p>\n

Originally published as Kalyn Ponga acknowledges mistake in Origin 1 and makes vow to \u2018be better\u2019<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Kalyn Ponga has acknowledged his mistake in being sent off in Origin 1 and vowed to improve his…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":724939,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[568],"tags":[64,63,761,762,158,85],"class_list":["post-724938","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\/724938","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=724938"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/724938\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/724939"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=724938"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=724938"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=724938"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}