How the Cowboys plan to stop Newcastle skipper Ponga

North Queensland Cowboys assistant coach Justin Morgan says limiting the impact of Dally M Medal winner Kalyn Ponga will be a team effort as they prepare to face the Newcastle skipper in red-hot form.

Ponga will take on the team he started his NRL career with in an elimination final on Saturday following a dominant performance in their win over the Dolphins to grab his team a spot in the top eight.

Knowing the challenges Ponga will present their inconsistent defence, Morgan said it was important the Cowboys worked together.

“I think with KP it’s important you don’t try and solve the situations yourself because in any scenario if he had 100 one on ones, he’d win 99 of them,” he said on QLD Breakfast.

“It’s important you work together, he’s naturally gifted and very fast.

“You saw those two tries he set up last weekend, he just drifted across field but I think there was a little bit of a disconnect at times.

"That’s easy to say because when the games a little bit adlib and it’s not as structured and a player is coming across field to get your line in order, get your connection with the guy on the inside and then still worry about his straight runners, it’s a difficult thing.”

Morgan also said it was the threat of Ponga, which opened up try-scoring opportunities for his teammates.

“What happens is he’ll get the ball in his hands and everyone goes ‘oh KP ‘s got the ball, we need to look after it’ and then the blinkers come on and you’re not overly concerned with his runners and support players,” he said.

“It’s important that you get connected and make sure you got really good (communication) there when he’s drifting across field and when it’s your turn to tackle him, you’ve got to make sure you make them.”

The Cowboys host the Knights at 7.50pm on Saturday.