‘Kalyn has recovered well’: Ponga on track for Round 8 return

Kalyn Ponga has been cleared to make his return to the NRL, with the Newcastle Knights revealing the superstar five-eighth could be back as early as Round 8 following an encouraging visit to Canada.

The Knights’ co-captain travelled to Vancouver last month for additional clinical and advanced neurophysiological assessment after he was knocked out while trying to make a tackle against the Wests Tigers earlier in the season.

There were initial fears Ponga could miss months of action, given he suffered four concussions in 10 months, but the result of testing over there suggests he’s ready to return to action in the coming weeks.

The Knights worked with independent concussion consultants to assess Ponga’s brain health, with the former fullback likely to make a Round 8 return against his former side the Cowboys.

He will need to get his fitness back up to scratch, given he’s essentially missed the past four matches, with question marks hovering over whether he’ll stay in the frontline or move to fullback to avoid most of the heavy collisions.

“We are comfortable with the objective evidence from our independent testing, indicating normalisation of his cognitive function,” Newcastle Knights director of football Peter Parr said.

“Kalyn has recovered well from his recent concussion, however he has had limited specific training due to the amount of travel he has had to undertake in recent weeks.

“We will now focus on building his physical and tactical performance, with an aim to return in Round 8 against the North Queensland Cowboys in Townsville.”