Wherever Kalyn Ponga goes and whatever he does in rugby league, headlines are sure to follow — and his decision to withdraw from the Pacific Championships is no different.

As it always does with Ponga, things have gotten heated. Few players in the league act as such a lightning rod for discourse.

The reactions have ranged from confusion, given Ponga said as recently as last weekend that he wanted to play for Australia this year, to defensive Knights fans howling at any possible suspension the NRL may levy, to a general anger at how any player could willingly turn down the chance to represent their country.

But this decision goes beyond Ponga. There is a fight for the future of the green and gold jersey and it's bigger than any one player, even one as prominent as Ponga.

His rejection of a potential Kangaroos debut must be a line in the sand for the NRL, because it is a symptom of a wider issue, one Australian coach Mal Meninga is fighting against with all his considerable strength.

The Kangaroos' greatest opponent isn't the New Zealand side that handed them a record defeat in last year's Pacific Championship final or the rising Pasifika nations or England, it's the apathy of the rugby league public.

Meninga has done a terrific job in connecting players to the meaning of the green and gold jersey he himself wore with such distinction. The passion and pride of the men he selects has never been in question but that alone is not enough to keep it going.

Getting fans to buy into the Australian side is getting harder all the time and it is their attitude towards the team that informs its place in the rugby league hierarchy. 

The Kangaroos jersey was once the pinnacle of the sport in this country but this hasn't been the case for some time now.

State of Origin's seemingly endless growth, both as a spectacle and as a discourse-dominating obsession, is one part of it.

It's hard to pinpoint the exact moment it overtook Test football in terms of spectacle and prestige, but by now it's undeniable.

For proof, look no further than the next time you debate a player's legacy or achievements with your mates. It will be Origin and club football that comes to the forefront, at the expense of all else. Their deeds in green and gold are mentioned secondarily, if they're mentioned at all.

It doesn't help that Australia has rarely played in their own biggest markets against top opposition for many years.

There have been successful tours of England, where the Kangaroos are still a massive draw, but few opportunities on the main stages of their own country and in this modern world, with so much competition for interest that is more fleeting and temporary than ever, to be out of sight is to be considerably out of mind.

Australia has played once in Sydney in the past nine years and have played just one game against New Zealand or England in the Harbour City in the past 15 years.

The Pacific Championship opener against Tonga will be their first game in Brisbane in seven years. They've played three matches on Australian soil in the past five years – in Wollongong, Townsville and Melbourne.

They're also currently enduring their longest drought between matches against England or Great Britain since World War II.

A lack of competitive matches on the sport's biggest stages in Australia feeds into a public disconnect. Origin is inescapable, as is the club season, but Test football must be sought out.

The trainspotters will always do it but for the general rugby league fan, or the general sports fan, the Kangaroos are just not at the forefront often enough. 

COVID played its part here, with Australia not playing a match in 2020 or 2021 but that time showed further proof of where Test football lies in the pecking order.

As the game was stripped down to its essentials, club and Origin football's survival was unquestioned. But Test football was seen as a luxury.

The club season has also played a role in removing the Australian jersey from the pedestal it once enjoyed. A standard NRL campaign is now longer and more arduous.

For players, the fatigue is physical and mental – there are more games than ever and the footy is faster than ever thanks to the inevitable progress of modern science and the game-bending set-restart rule.

For fans, it's more emotional – media coverage has become so hyper-focused on the minutiae of the sport week to week, day to day and hour to hour that by the time the grand final rolls around even the tragics need a breather.

That's probably why, until Ponga released his statement earlier this week, the Pacific Championships had flown under the radar.

But they shouldn't have – Australia is coming off the worst defeat in the nation's 116-year rugby league history after last year's 30-0 belting by New Zealand.

Imagine if New South Wales or Queensland lost an Origin decider 30-0. It would end representative careers in an instant and discussion over who would pay the price for such a defeat, and who would be chosen to avenge it, would dominate the airwaves and the newspaper columns for months.

If we extend the Origin comparison to Ponga's situation, it becomes even more stark.

Ponga has opted out of Origin football for Queensland once before, but that was after a 2023 concussion that threatened to end his NRL career.

Otherwise, he's always been up for it when fit — it was just earlier this year that he played for Queensland just one week after returning from a linsfrac injury that kept him out for almost three months.

The idea of him, or any other NRL player, declining an Origin jersey when they are healthy, in-form and needed by their state is unthinkable. They all want to prove themselves in this arena because it is the crucible in which the greatest rugby league heroes are forged.

Test football used to be like that. It used to create legends and selection was less a privilege than a duty. But now it's the other way round. The jersey needs the players more than the players need the jersey.

The Kangaroos need stars if they are to bring the fans back and if Meninga is to complete his rescue mission of a jersey which once meant everything, his sides need the credibility that comes through selecting the best and biggest players in the game.

One player opting out, even a player as high-profile and accomplished as Ponga, is not a death-knell. But this is a fork in the road for the NRL when it comes to the future of the national side.

The international scene is as vibrant and colourful as it's ever been. There is more and greater competition than ever before and vengeance for last year's embarrassment is as good a cause as any to rally the troops.

But one of the best players in the game, fit and in-form, does not want to play for Australia despite recently expressing a desire to do so.

No matter the reason, and Ponga's reasons are his own, that's a problem. To win the fight for the future of the Kangaroos jersey — and make no mistake, it is a fight — the NRL needs to find a solution.