KNIGHTS skipper Kalyn Ponga has bounced back from arguably the worst performance of his NRL career to produce one of the best in a 46-26 triumph against the Gold Coast at McDonald Jones Stadium on Sunday.
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Heavily criticised after Newcastle's 43-12 trouncing by Parramatta in their previous game, Ponga responded by scoring a crucial try and creating three others to recapture the form that has not been seen since last July, when he was initially stood down after suffering repeated concussions.
While high-profile commentators such as Andrew Johns, Brad Fittler and Cameron Smith have queried the decision to switch Ponga from fullback to five-eighth, Knights coach Adam O'Brien refused to panic, insisting the transition would take time.
O'Brien said Ponga's sizzling second half, which turned the game after the two teams were locked 12-all at half-time, was a reminder of his "elite" capabilities.
"As I said at the start of this, it's way too premature for people to comment, given the sample size this year," O'Brien said.
"I think he gave us a snippet of it, but he knows he's got to work hard next week and replicate it."
Ponga said commentators were entitled to their views but he and O'Brien were committed to their plan.
"I acknowledge that they've got an opinion," Ponga said. "I think it's important. I can't just ignore it.
"But I sort of know where I want to be and what I want to do with my career.
"I want to be in the game a lot more. I feel like at six you can be that, whether it's good or bad.
"Last week I was negatively impacting the team and that's why I worked so hard to be good this week.
"But ... it's consistency and I need to do it again and again."
Ponga said he took "lessons" out of the loss to Parramatta and worked hard on his game over bye week to find solutions.
"It hasn't been all sunshine and roses, probably the last eight months, but to come back home and put in a performance like that in front of the crowd that I haven't played in front of for a long time, to be honest I am happy," Ponga said. "But like Adzy said, that's just one performance.
"I need to back that up and be consistent."
The 25-year-old missed a team-high eight tackles against the Eels and said that "first and foremost" he had focused on improving his defence against the Gold Coast.
"I wanted to get that right off the back of the last game," he said.
According to the NRL website, he made eight tackles and missed six against the Titans.
"There'll be good and bad to take out of this game," Ponga said. "But we're happy with the win. We needed that one."
The victory lifted Newcastle to 11th on the ladder, within a point of the top eight.
It was also a timely result after the Knights copped flak for allowing several players to travel overseas last week while they had the bye.
"It was so blown out of proportion," O'Brien said.
"It was one player went to Bali. One.
"The reality is we've got two more byes in the next five weeks, and we were always going to train through them ... it's no-one's business really.
"There's a lot of commentary and I get that, with this club. There's always going to be speculation about [Ponga] and the team.
"Sometimes we make it easy for those comments, too, performing as we did against Parra."
Gold Coast were leading 12-6 before a piece of Ponga magic allowed the Knights to equalise in the last minute of the first half, when he grubbered ahead and back-rower Tyson Frizell scored.
The Titans edged back in front with a try by fullback Jayden Campbell in the 45th minute, but Newcastle responded with four tries in the next 20 minutes - including one lone-range effort by Ponga and two he set up.
Winger Dominic Young finished with two tries for Newcastle, including a sensational 95-metre intercept.
Barnstorming back-rower David Fifita scored a double for the Titans.
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