Reece Walsh hypocrisy laid bare as Kalyn Ponga escapes criticism for questionable effort

There's no denying Kalyn Ponga had a sensational game against the Cowboys, and if not for a wayward pass (that Dane Gagai probably should have caught) the Knights might have won on Saturday night. But if Reece Walsh or Latrell Mitchell produced the same complete lack of effort that Ponga did during the Cowboys' match-sealing try, they'd be dragged over the coals.

With North Queensland up 22-16 and only 80 seconds to play, Tom Dearden sliced through the Knights' defence to put the result to bed. Ponga had little chance to prevent the try, but put himself in a position to potentially try and knock the ball out of Dearden's grasp if he could produce a desperate last-ditch effort close to the line.

But the Knights fullback did the complete opposite, barely attempting to lay a hand on Dearden as he simply stepped out of the way to let the Cowboys skipper score. As we said, Ponga was about 1000-1 to stop the try.

But you'd like to see a bit more effort from your $1.4 million marquee man when simply giving up means your season is over. If Ponga had've managed to knock the ball out of Dearden's hands, it would have given the Knights a seven-tackle set with about 60 seconds still to play.

But Ponga appeared resigned to the fact the Knights were going to lose with about three minutes left. You could see the star fullback drop his head when the Cowboys defused a kick in the 78th minute, and Ponga clearly thought the Knights' final chance was gone. Their chances of a miraculous victory were even further hampered when they were reduced to 10 men, but for Ponga to not even attempt to stop the match-sealing try was disappointing.

Reece Walsh wouldn't get away with Kalyn Ponga's effort

If Walsh or Mitchell produced a similar lack of effort, they would have copped widespread backlash on social and mainstream media. The fact Ponga has largely escaped criticism shows the hypocrisy of the situation and the unfair levels of scrutiny that Walsh and Mitchell face.

Walsh was widely criticised for a defensive lapse in last year's grand final that allowed Nathan Cleary to score the match-winning try. But at least he made a desperate late dive to try and knock the ball out of Cleary's hands over the line. Imagine if Walsh had simply stepped back and allowed Cleary to score like Ponga did on Saturday night?

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As we already mentioned, it's hard to be critical of Ponga when he had a superb game, and the Knights would never have made the finals two years running without him. But when you're on $1.4 million per season you can't give up on your team when it means your season is over.

Ponga had two line-breaks and two try assists in the loss, breaking eight tackles and running for a whopping 207 metres. There were brutal scenes when he made a break late in the game when the score was 16-all, only to butcher a certain try with a low pass that Gagai couldn't hold. Aside from that mistake he was brilliant, but his complete lack of effort in the final minute was simply not good enough.