Kalyn Ponga’s father has sensationally told The Sunday Telegraph that North Queensland refused to support his son’s wishes to further his studies outside of football.

Ponga turned down a contract extension from the Cowboys earlier in the season and that’s where the club turned their back on Ponga’s education according to Andre Ponga.

The 18-year-old is studying at university to become a PE teacher but his dad says North Queensland weren’t interested in supporting the prodigy away from the footy field.

“They didn’t allow him to do virtually anything outside of playing footy,” the proud father said.

“He loves footy so applying himself to that comes easy. But education is hard for Kalyn and he has worked hard in the past but they just made it more difficult.

“As a family, we have always preached that footy is always the B option and education the A option.

“The Cowboys knew that was a priority for us when he signed in 2013. But since rejecting April’s offer, they they don’t want to know about it, and it’s left Kalyn disillusioned because they are not offering any encouragement to him.”

Ponga has since signed a multi-million dollar deal with Newcastle from 2018 making him the richest teenager in NRL history.