{"id":915835,"date":"2026-10-04T13:10:15","date_gmt":"2026-10-04T13:10:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/915835\/"},"modified":"2026-10-04T13:10:15","modified_gmt":"2026-10-04T13:10:15","slug":"hurts-so-much-ponga-left-shattered-consoled-by-holbrook-in-heartbreaking-scenes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/915835\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Hurts so much\u2019: Ponga left shattered, consoled by Holbrook in heartbreaking scenes"},"content":{"rendered":"

A shattered Kalyn Ponga admits the Knights one-point loss in this year\u2019s grand final<\/a> \u201churts so much\u201d after coming unbelievably close to producing a miracle for the ages.<\/p>\n

Get the expert take on NRL Grand Final Day with FOX LEAGUE\u2019s extensive coverage, plus full and mini replays available post-game on Kayo Sports | New to Kayo? Join now and get your first month for just $1.<\/a><\/p>\n

Although Newcastle had a stellar opening half and entered the half-time break with a six-point lead, the Knights were unable to hold onto the lead.<\/p>\n

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Interviewed by Jonathan Thurston after the match, Ponga opened up on the heartbreaking defeat and admitted the club will return to the grand stage very soon.<\/p>\n

He was later seen being consoled by coach Justin Holbrook inside the dressing room sheds, failing to make eye contact and only looking at the ground.<\/p>\n

Justin Holbrook consoles Kalyn Ponga.Source: FOX SPORTS<\/p>\n

\u201cIt hurts. It hurts so much. I know we did them proud, but the ultimate goal is to win a comp. Can\u2019t thank them enough for their support. We\u2019ll be back,\u201d he said on Channel Nine.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe weren\u2019t winning field position. We knew that. We knew it was going to be a hard game. <\/p>\n

\u201cYeah, just in the second half that we made so many errors and they obviously made the most of them and the amount of pressure they put on us, you know, they were too good in the end.\u201d<\/p>\n

While their dream of winning their first premiership since 2001 came to an unfortunate ending, Ponga was proud by the way his side competed especially after finishing with the wooden spoon last year.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m definitely proud of this club, this community. Yeah, I\u2019m super proud mate,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

A shattered Kalyn Ponga.Source: FOX SPORTS<\/p>\n

\u201cObviously wooden Spoon last year, if you had a told us we\u2019d be playing in the grand final I would have said you were kidding.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut just this coaching staff, the players, they work so hard to get us in this position. <\/p>\n

\u201cOur fans are so loyal and they deserve to win tonight but yeah, we just weren\u2019t good enough.\u201d<\/p>\n

Marky flies over for the Roosters! | 00:32<\/p>\n

A one-man freak show on Sunday evening, Ponga was in the middle of the action on both ends of the field and finished with 212 running metres, a 95-metre try and a miracle try-saving tackle which denied Mark Nawaqanitawase.<\/p>\n

As he still chases his maiden title, he praised his opponents and also thanked the Newcastle community for their support over the past 12 months.<\/p>\n

\u201cFirstly, I\u2019d just like to thank the NRL and all the sponsors for making this year even bigger and better than, you know, previous before, I congratulate the Roosters,\u201d he continued.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ll just say thank you to our boys, to our club, to our fans. Want to ride. This one was obviously so proud to be here, proud to represent you people. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re still chasing that premiership to the Roosters. Congratulations class outfit deserving of tonight. Yeah enjoy it boys. <\/p>\n

\u201cBut yeah I just want to say congratulations and well done to everyone. Thank you.\u201d<\/p>\n

‘How are they still in this!’ | 00:28<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A shattered Kalyn Ponga admits the Knights one-point loss in this year\u2019s grand final \u201churts so much\u201d after…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":915836,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[568],"tags":[64,63,761,762,158,85],"class_list":["post-915835","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\/915835","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=915835"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/915835\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/915836"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=915835"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=915835"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=915835"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}