Infamous toilet Knights duo Kalyn Ponga and Kurt Mann were kicked out receives commemorative plaque

The toilet cubicle of a Newcastle hotel Kalyn Ponga and Kurt Mann were filmed being kicked out of last weekend is now commemorated by a plaque. 

The Knights stars- who are both currently sidelined with injury – were asked to leave a toilet cubicle at the Delany Hotel in Newcastle’s CBD on Saturday evening.

Comedian Steve Philip placed the plaque in the cubicle, which reads: ‘The Kalyn Ponga, Kurt Mann Memorial Toilet. On the 12-8-22, Kalyn celebrated a house purchase, vomited and Kurt helped his friend.’

The choice of words is a thinly-veiled barb to the version of events Ponga’s father Andre offered to explain the bizarre incident that saw the Newcastle captain attract unwanted attention. 

‘He made an exciting house purchase Saturday and celebrated with a few mates drinking. Sick in the toilet and his mate went in to help him,’ Ponga senior told the Daily Telegraph on Monday.

That explanation has been heavily scrutinised, with some onlookers questioning why the pair decided to take their drinks into the cubicle if Ponga was feeling unwell.

However, Fox Sports subsequently revealed that the Queensland star was in fact not drunk when he was filmed leaving the toilet, with Knight officials told that the pair spent no more than 25 minutes at the Delaney Hotel.

Kalyn Ponga and Kurt Mann were not drunk when during toilet cubicle incident, reports say

Ponga and Mann supposedly arrived at the pub at 10.45pm on Saturday night and left by 11.10pm, with hotel staff saying that neither player was intoxicated. 

On Tuesday, News Corp’s Paul Kent reported that the pair had been drug tested by the NRL and while those results will remain confidential, all eyes will be on Newcastle as to how they handle the situation.

Knights coach Adam O’Brien, however, insisted Ponga remained committed to his football, despite the faux pas.

‘It might come across that Kalyn might not care because of his relaxed nature and the way he speaks, but behind the scenes I see the way he acts,’ he told News Corp before the game against Canberra at the weekend. 

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

But hotel staff insist that the duo were not intoxicated at the time of the incident on Saturday

Under-fire Knights coach Adam O’Brien has admitted Ponga can come across as too relaxed about his footy for a highly-paid superstar captain

‘He [Ponga] is a young bloke; I don’t want to make excuses for him, he doesn’t want that.

‘For Kalyn, it’s about helping the team prepare and trying to win back a little bit of respect and trust from teammates.’

Ponga signed a monster five-year contract worth more than $5million in April, but only managed to get through 14 games this season before his campaign was cut short by a horrid run of head knocks.

The star fullback is expected to take six to eight weeks for a full concussion recovery, after doctors decided the 24-year-old would be better off sitting out the remaining weeks also due to the fact Newcastle were never in finals contention.