{"id":911021,"date":"2026-09-30T13:10:16","date_gmt":"2026-09-30T13:10:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/911021\/"},"modified":"2026-09-30T13:10:16","modified_gmt":"2026-09-30T13:10:16","slug":"dally-m-awards-2026-kalyn-ponga-and-mimi-bowell-red-carpet-debut-relationship-confirmation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/911021\/","title":{"rendered":"Dally M Awards 2026: Kalyn Ponga and Mimi Bowell red carpet debut, relationship confirmation"},"content":{"rendered":"

Kalyn Ponga<\/a> is gearing up for one of the biggest NRL games in his career in Sunday\u2019s grand final \u2013 but there\u2019s another reason people are talking about him. <\/p>\n

The Newcastle Knights captain and his new girlfriend, Mimi Bowell<\/a>, made their red carpet debut at the Dally M Awards<\/a> on Wednesday night. <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Kalyn Ponga of the Newcastle Knights and Mimi Bowell.\u00a0Getty Images<\/p>\n

Just days after the couple appeared to confirm their relationship with a video shared on social media, they went with quite the hard launch. <\/p>\n

The pair arrived together on the red carpet, all smiles and very cosy for the cameras. <\/p>\n

Ponga, 28, opted for a classic black tuxedo for the big night, finishing his look with a matching bow tie. <\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Bowell looked absolutely glowing in a fitted white gown that featured a dramatic train. <\/p>\n

The look was finished with a matching white clutch and her hair worn loose around her shoulders. <\/p>\n

The red carpet hard-launch from the pair was the first real confirmation that they were officially an item. <\/p>\n

After the Knights defeated the Warriors, a video started to do the rounds that showed a very happy Ponga rushing over to Bowell before they embraced with a kiss. <\/p>\n

Bowell had been in the crowd for the game at Eden Park in Auckland, and shared plenty of snaps from the New Zealand trip on her social media. <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

The NRL star seemingly confirmed his new romance with a single kiss. \u00a0Instagram\/@mimibowell<\/p>\n

\u201cPassport stamped,\u201d Bowell captioned the carousel of photos where the video was included.<\/p>\n

The sports star did little to deny any rumours of the romance between the pair at the time, commenting underneath the post with a monkey and two heart emojis.<\/p>\n

The gallery included serval pics of Ponga and Bowell looking inseparable as they explored Auckland together.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

The pair looked loved-up in a series of snaps shared to Bowell\u2019s Instagram from their time in New Zealand. \u00a0Instagram\/@mimibowell<\/p>\n

One selfie showed Ponga wrapping his arm around Bowell as the swimwear founder pulled a kissing face.<\/p>\n

Followers were quick to comment on the snaps, with many agreeing that things were official now. <\/p>\n

Bowell co-founded Adelaide-based swimwear label Imana Swim with her sister, who also appeared to be on the trip to New Zealand.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Kalyn Ponga is gearing up for one of the biggest NRL games in his career in Sunday\u2019s grand…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":911022,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[64,63,134],"class_list":["post-911021","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-entertainment"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/911021","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=911021"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/911021\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/911022"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=911021"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=911021"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=911021"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}