Ponga, who had missed the previous two games with a knee injury, returned to action for the Newcastle Knights in Friday's 18-0 shutout loss to Cronulla at Shark Park.

If fans were hoping that the presence of their recently appointed captain would inspire Newcastle to an upset victory against one of the NRL's emerging forces, they were to be sadly mistaken.

It is hard to remember a game in which the Queensland Origin fullback, who turned 24 on match eve, had such little impact.

The scoreboard and Ponga's individual statistics spoke for themselves.

Not since the dark days of 2017, when the Knights were on their way to collecting a third straight wooden spoon, had they finished a match without managing to post a solitary point.

And Ponga finished the match with 107 attacking metres, well below his career average, and three handling errors, the most by any player on the field.

Whether he was 100 per cent fit is another matter altogether, but as Nathan Cleary showed last season when he won the Clive Chuchill Medal with a shoulder held together by Elastoplast, the truly great players find a way to get the job done, whatever the circumstances.

Everyone is entitled to an off night, but Ponga's performance against the Sharks was not the first this year to fall short of the electrifying standards we all know he can reach.

He was criticised by the likes of Cooper Cronk for his lack of involvement in Newcastle's pre-season loss to Melbourne. And while he was solid and tried his backside off in the season-opening win against the Roosters, he was also for the large part well contained.

Indeed, in terms of statistics, it could be argued that Ponga's much-maligned deputy, Tex Hoy, has actually made a greater contribution in 2022.

Ponga is yet to make a line break this year, let alone score a try or create one, and has broken four tackles in gaining 263 metres across two games.

Hoy has also played twice, making 287m, five tackle breaks, two line breaks, as well as scoring one try and producing a try assist.

Yet Hoy, by all accounts, is earning less than 10 per cent of Ponga's annual salary.

And therein lies the flip side of being one of the NRL's top-earning players.

Nobody queries the value of Cleary, Tom Trbojevic and James Tedesco, because they deliver week in, week out.

The likes of Valentine Holmes, Ash Taylor and Ben Hunt, however, have struggled to justify their $1 million deals.

Ponga is more than entitled to meet with Bennett and would be silly not to at least listen to what the Dolphins have to offer.

Either way, if Ponga stays with Newcastle or heads north, he will be spectacularly well remunerated.

The tough bit is upholding his end of the bargain.