No Source Ponga

[Bulldog_4_Life]

Barba made multiple try savers that year, ran the second most kick return metres and broke 171 tackles. Leading try scorer with 22 tries, 23 try assists, 27 line breaks and 21 line break assists. He basically won every individual award possible other than the Clive Churchill.

Those numbers are absolutely stupid, Ponga simply hasn't come close to producing that. That 2012 season is one of the best individual seasons ever.

Crazy how people underrate just how good Barba was, that try against the Eels, the one against the Broncos or what about his freakish run and assist to JMoz against the Storm or his assist to Jmoz against the Titans and then you have his try savers against the Titans, the one against the Roosters or what about the one against Souths when we were up by 1 with about 2 minutes to go.

 

[Baby Blues]

Not even close, and I have Ponga up there as one of the best talents the games seen in years but Barba was something else that 2012 season, haven't seen a better individual season in my life and it'll be a while yet before we seen anything like it, with him in the team I had confidence we could win any match against any opponent. I've always stuck by my statement that if he had his off field issues sorted then he would've gone down in history as one of the best. Had speed, footwork, developed some nice playmaking skills, developed into a great defender and he made try scoring seem so easy.

Barba had a great 2012 that will be difficult for any player to match. That doesn’t mean he’s the best fullback of all time.
Ponga is a better footy player than Barba already, he looks so comfortable in Origin you can just tell he’s made for the big stage

 

[Alan79]

Barba benefited massively from a great forward pack that excelled with offloads and block plays in 2012. At that stage Reynolds and Keating were also doing massively well from it. He never replicated anything close to the form from that season because the block plays were changed to obstruction plays. He was an elusive quick player that supported the forwards well. That didn't change, but so much of the credit for the run in 2012 should go to the forwards. Short offloads by big forwards wrapping up 2-3 defenders gave our outside backs truckloads of opportunities.

I honestly haven't watched a lot of Ponga, so I'll not comment on his ability. But the fact of the matter is that the NRL sponsorship deals take in a healthy profit. It would exceed 400 million per year income. 1.8 billion/5 years not counting the gambling and other sponsors. Of that a little under 25% goes to players and clubs. I honestly can't see any money going to grass roots football. If Ponga buggers off to earn a big pay day from union it's a sign that the NRL administration needs to up their game with regards to what they're paying clubs.

It's not a new thing for the NRL and previously the ARL to have reported significantly poor profit margins verse income and expenditure in my opinion. That's why we had the war between the ARL and super league. I'm buggered if I know where the money goes. But management of our game is pretty poor.

 

[D.O.W.]

im not exactly sure what the max earning potential would be in Rugby Union, all I know League cant compete with it what ever it may be, and more importantly he grew up playing Union...

he will be a world beater in Union, he will make a mess of their defensive lines ..

He’ll be bored as bat sh!t playing that Shyte excuse of a game, League is far more challenging and he’s a guy that is at home playing the toughest and most entertaining game in the world. Good luck to him if he wants to touch the ball 3 times, lose 40% of game time to scrums, line outs and penalty goals.

 

[Mr Invisible]

Instead of chosing Latrell, why not offer Ponga the same deal?

 

[coach]

I’ve never seen any player rip teams to shreds like Barba did in 2012. Never in my life seen anything like it.

Yeah but that was the only year
Sure he was quality, but ponga is better overall
Just remember, ponga hasn’t hit his best....
Jarryd Hayne sure tore some assholes too

 

[Cosmo24]

Instead of chosing Latrell, why not offer Ponga the same deal?

Get both and it won’t matter who takes up the other 28 spots

 

[Mr Invisible]

Jarryd Hayne sure tore some assholes too

and bit some snatches allegedly.

 

[Teddybear]

Instead of chosing Latrell, why not offer Ponga the same deal?

How about cronk coach ..just heard the guy speak on nrl360 geez he can break a game down with tactics etc
Then sign

Latrell
Ponga
Josh papali

Then we can figure it out from there

 

[2144superman]

How about cronk coach ..just heard the guy speak on nrl360 geez he can break a game down with tactics etc
Then sign

Latrell
Ponga
Josh papali

Then we can figure it out from there

Papali? i'd take Fonua Blake over him from Manly ...

 

[Teddybear]

Papali? i'd take Fonua Blake over him from Manly ...

Ok we take him as well.

 

[Teddybear]

Papali? i'd take Fonua Blake over him from Manly ...

Mate I was at origin and papali performance was like old bulldog like he smashed anything that moved just like old times ....before then never really rated him