Premiership-winning Newcastle legend Matthew Johns believes Kalyn Ponga can "be a Benji" and develop into one of the all-time great five-eighths - if the Knights keep the faith. Johns is adamant Newcastle's NRL top-eight chances in 2023 hinge on the Knights giving Ponga sufficient time to make a successful transition from fullback to the second receiver role. "It will take a bit of time. You've got to persevere," Johns told. "And at times they've got to find a way to, hiding him is not the right word, but finding a way that he doesn't make 40 tackles a game because that's what opposition teams are going to try to do. "He needs a little bit of protection. You might defend him in the centres a bit. Not that he can't tackle, it's just that you don't want to be burning his petrol." Johns sees a lot of Marshall, in particular, in Ponga. "He's so classy," he said. "With Newcastle, if you've got Locky going through the middle, then you've got Kalyn coming off the back of it, then that's a big threat. "At the moment, I can just see they're working out the nuances of all the combinations but I think they'll be a successful one. Locky's a really good buy."
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