Knights coach Adam O’Brien has launched a stinging tirade at the NRL over the draw after he was forced to rest skipper Kalyn Ponga from his side’s 20-6 loss to the Dragons.
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The Knights are 14th on the ladder, but O’Brien refused to use his captain for what would have been three games over an eight day period, including next week and Origin I.
“He was doing everything he could and I took the decision away from him because it is the right thing to do,” O’Brien said.
“I know Val (Holmes) backed up, but he is a centre and Kalyn had a pretty rough 10 days up there while he was trying to get that ankle right and it is the type of injury that takes a few days to settle down.
“Two days is not enough. He is disappointed and angry with me but we have got to protect him.
“Look in this battle we lost to the scheduling and the draw. Someone has got to play Friday okay we get that.
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“But then they hit us next Thursday as well. Hit us again, so it would have been three games in eight days.
“That’s not looking after our players, so I had to look after him.”
O’Brien confirmed Ponga’s ankle injury won’t stop him playing next week, but took aim at the draw for not looking after player welfare.
“He will play Thursday,” O’Brien said.
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“I always knew that once the draw came out we would cop the Friday after Origin, but it would have been good if someone said, give them the Saturday or the Sunday the following week.
“But whoever does the draws either hasn’t lived it or doesn’t care, so I don’t know which one it is.
“You have got teams like Canberra who haven’t had a bye yet and then you have got teams who haven’t left home in seven games in a row. Like it’s ridiculous.
“But the draw didn’t have anything to do with the way we played tonight.”
