NRL ‘drug test Kalyn Ponga and Kurt Mann’ following THAT cubicle video

On Aug 16, 2022

Kalyn Ponga and Newcastle Knights teammate Kurt Mann have reportedly been drug tested by the NRL after being ejected from a toilet cubicle over the weekend.

According to News Corp’s Paul Kent via Fox Sports, the pair were tested on Tuesday, although the results will remain confidential.

‘The NRL have acted on the investigation that they are currently undertaking in regards to the two Newcastle players Kalyn Ponga and Kurt Mann,’ Kent said on NRL 360.

‘The NRL sent their drug testers up there today under the illicit and hazardous drugs policy and both players have undergone drug tests today (Tuesday).

‘It is confidential at the moment and the results will be confidential. But clearly the NRL is acting on the evidence they have already received.

‘It is a drug test for illicit drugs. I don’t think it is performance enhancing. I think it is social drugs.

Kalyn Ponga has reportedly been drug tested by the NRL in the wake of the toilet cubicle video

Ponga and teammate Kurt Mann took drug tests on Tuesday morning, according to News Corp

‘We all draw our own conclusions about what was going on in the cubicle and the NRL have today reacted responsibly in regards to that and sent their drug testers there to see if there was social drugs involved.’

Ponga signed a multi-million dollar contract extension with the club earlier this year and his father claimed the duo were in the cubicle because he was feeling sick after a night drinking in a Newcastle pub and Mann accompanied him to check on his welfare.

Key questions that need to be answered from Kalyn Ponga toilet cubicle saga:

1. Why would security ask a man being sick to vacate the toilet?

2. Why would a mate also be required in the cubicle while someone else was being sick?

3. Why would both men take their drinks into a toilet cubicle?

4. Why would a security guard say: ‘Oh, that’s a surprise’ to a man who has just been sick in the toilet as opposed to ‘Are you OK?’

That explanation has been called a ‘fairytale’ and the $1.2million star was compared to ‘Pinocchio’ by fans and pundits, with Ponga now at risk of losing his status as the Knights co-captain.

Regardless of the outcome of the drugs test, Ponga is out for the season with concussion and his visit to the pub is unlikely to win favour with club chiefs.

In the short clip which surfaced on Monday, Ponga and Mann are asked to step out of the cubicle. Both men then walk out, bourbon and cokes still in hand.

‘Oh, that’s a surprise,’ the security guard can be heard saying as the two footy players walk past.

Ponga’s father Andre offered an innocent explanation, telling News Corp the teammates were in the cubicle together due to his son being ill.

‘He (Kalyn) made an exciting house purchase on Saturday and celebrated with a few mates drinking,’ he said.

‘(He was) sick in the toilet and his mate (Mann) went in to help him.’

That didn’t wash with Fox League reporter James Hooper, who said: ‘You might have to get Pinocchio out again, we aren’t believing that fairytale are we?’

Co-host Braith Anasta pointed out it’s ‘not often you go to the toilets with a mate to throw up’ with Hooper adding the footage is a ‘bad scene’.

Speaking on Triple M radio, St George Illawarra prop Aaron Woods weighed in, pointing out that Ponga and Mann could be harshly punished after the club set a precedent by standing down Knights front-rower David Klemmer for a game after he abused trainer Hayden Knowles.

‘Remember (last week) the stink they kicked up about Klemmer swearing at the trainer,’ Woods said.

‘What will they do this week about two players on the beers when they should be at home?

Woods added Ponga that drinking while recovering from a series of concussions is the ‘worst thing’ for his recovery, while Mann is out of action due to a soft tissue injury.

The veteran front-rower also said if Ponga has done nothing wrong, he shouldn’t lose his status as the club’s co-captain.