Kalyn Ponga's confession about Johnathan Thurston as Knights seek finals upset over Cowboys

Kalyn Ponga has given a shout-out to Johnathan Thurston and a number of other Cowboys greats as the Newcastle skipper gets set to return to the scene of his NRL debut on Saturday night. Ponga's Knights will go into the sudden-death finals clash in Townsville as underdogs against a Cowboys side that sent a warning to their rivals with a 44-6 thrashing of Canterbury last week to clinch fifth spot on the ladder.

The Knights have been rocked by the news representative centre Bradman Best has been ruled out with a hamstring injury, placing even more pressure on Ponga to deliver for his side. The reigning Dally M Medallist almost single-handedly guided Newcastle into the eighth and final playoffs spot with a man-of-the-match display against the Dolphins last week.

And the 26-year-old has fond memories of playing in Townsville, having made his first grade debut on the wing for the Cowboys in their 2016 semi-final win over Brisbane. Ponga admits he had little understanding about the enormity of finals footy at the time, but returns as his Newcastle side's great hope of booking a spot in the second week of the finals.

Ponga admits playing alongside Cowboys premiership winner and NRL legend Thurston was a valuable learning experience and that the 26-20 finals win ranks among his fondest memories on a footy field. "It all happened very quick - young 18-year-old with no idea what was really going on, how big the occasion and everything was." Ponga said.

"Being naive and young was probably in a way a favour, not really understanding the work that had been done to get into that position. I was lucky to have some good leaders at the time, obviously JT (Jonathan Thurston), Michael Morgan, Matt Scott, Gavin Cooper, Lachie Coote. All these players are legends of the game. It was probably one of my favourite experiences, really."

Knights into finals after late-season Kalyn Ponga heroics

Ponga has guided the Knights into the finals for the second season in succession after returning from injury earlier in the season. Last year, the 26-year-old shook off a serious concussion to inspire a 10-game winning streak that stretched to the second week of finals. The Knights beat Canberra in week one of the finals before being eliminated by the Warriors in the second week as Ponga was named the player of the season.

His Newcastle side looked to be in dire straights this season when the superstar fullback a Lisfranc injury in his right foot as the side sat 15th on the ladder through seven rounds. But after Newcastle held themselves together in his absence, Ponga hit top gear on return for the final two months of the regular season to help the Knights sneak into the playoffs in the final game of the season.

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And Ponga says his impressive form at the back-end of the season comes down to a shift in mindset during his 11-week injury layoff. "Coming back from my injury, I sort of felt like I had a point to prove," Ponga said. "Just proving that the best version of myself is the best. When you're injured, you're not really the best version of yourself. You're coming back from rehab, you're doing all that.

"Once I'm on the field, I want to be the best version of myself so just making sure I do everything day to day to do that... "I've been injured the first half of each season so then I'm kind of timely at the back end." The Knights go into the Cowboys finals clash having spent just three weeks in the top-eight all season - the fewest for any finals team since Canberra in 2010. But Ponga says he never doubted Newcastle's status as a finals contender.

"We've seemed to put it together at the right time over the last three, four, five weeks (but) it's not a coincidence," he added. "I think we've just stuck at what we thought was happening, what we were doing right and it's sort of just coming along." Newcastle lost by one point against the Cowboys in Townsville in their only previous clash this season, but go into Saturday night's clash on a three-game winning streak.

with AAP