With 12 minutes to play in Wellington, Ponga was ordered from the field for a head-injury assessment after the NRL's independent doctor viewed a collision the five-eighth had with prop Addin Fonua-Blake's leg.

The ruling occurred with the Warriors leading 14-12 and as Newcastle were about to feed a scrum 20-metres out from the try-line. The Knights had all the momentum and Ponga had been held up over the try-line only a few plays earlier.

O'Brien was baffled by the call immediately after the game, saying in his press conference "I've got no idea who, why, how, and I don't think he does", referring to Ponga sitting alongside him.

Ponga said: "It will be interesting to see their take on it.

"I've been knocked out before, and I definitely wasn't in any state.

"I couldn't believe it, 10 minutes to go, game on the line - I'm literally fine ... I said to the ref 'I'm not going off', but it's not his call."

Speaking to the Newcastle Herald 24 hours after the game, O'Brien maintained he was still confused by the process but stopped short of saying the club would query the incident with the NRL.

"I'm none the wiser, but the best thing I can do now is concentrate on the footy team," he said.

"I expect at some stage someone will give us some clarity on why, who and how.

"We'll wait to hear from whoever is in charge of it. I anticipate there will be some feedback for us."

The incident denied Ponga the chance to try and lift Newcastle to a late win. Warriors hooker Wayde Egan scored five minutes after his exit to essentially ensure two points for the home side.

O'Brien was disappointed with the loss but found the showing an improvement.

"The character; some of the adversity that we had to go through losing 'Friz' [HIA], Phoenix [sin-bin], [and] Kurt Mann had to shift out to the back-row - he's done zero reps over summer there," he said.

"I felt if Kalyn was on the field - he was starting to really put some dents in them, he was getting more and more comfortable as the game went on - he would have iced one of those three shots we had there.

"When we had 12 men, I think we defended 17 tackles in a row on our line.

"We showed a lot more character and backbone and it's a performance we will build on."

Ponga, after his first game at five-eighth since 2019 and first with new halfback Jackson Hastings and fullback Lachlan Miller, was optimistic but said Newcastle were their own worst enemy.

"The back end of that first half they probably come out on top due to our own stuff - we weren't getting great ends to sets, putting ourselves under pressure, dropping ball," he said.

"They came away with it, but there's a lot of good things to take out of it."

O'Brien said Tyson Frizell, who left the field after 14 minutes due to a head-knock and did not return, would have to pass concussion protocols this week to face Wests Tigers on Sunday, but he expects Ponga to be free to play.

O'Brien said his side's biggest improvements would come from the development of the spine.

"There was four or five opportunities there we ... bombed a couple of close ones," he said.

"We're not far away, but naturally the more time these boys spend together, they're only going to get better.

"We'll look vastly different in four weeks, eight weeks, 12 weeks."

MORE IN SPORT

WHAT DO YOU THINK? Join the discussion in the comment section below.

Find out how to register or become a subscriber here.