Kalyn Ponga will decide his Origin fate on Friday after claiming his second Knights' Player of the Year award

The dynamic fullback became only the second player after teammate Mitch Barnett to win dual Danny Buderus Medals after taking out the 2020 Player of the Year.

Ponga polled 98 points to win the award by a big margin from Kurt Mann [69] and David Klemmer [58]. Rounding out the top six in the voting were Barnett [53], Daniel Saifiti [50] and skipper Mitchell Pearce [43].

The fullback and Mann were neck and neck in polling leading into the final five rounds of the season before Ponga pulled away to win easily.

For the first time, the club adopted a Dally M-style voting system to decide the winner with head coach Adam O'Brien, his assistants David Furner and Willie Peters and development coaches Eric Smith and Rory Kostjasyn all providing their 3,2 and 1 picks after every game.

Ponga, who also won in 2018, was presented with the medal by Buderus at the Knights' annual awards presentation at Newcastle's NEX Club attended by around 150 staff, players and partners.

The fullback also picked up the Players' Player of the Year award, voted on by the players at the end of each game. Other award winners on the night included Mann [Gladiator of the Year], Connor Watson [Community Player of the Year], Chris Randall [Rookie of the Year], Barnett [Knight in Shining Armour] and Luke Huth [Club Person of the Year].

"It's a great honour winning both these awards," Ponga told the Newcastle Herald.

"The Danny Buderus medal is obviously special but to be also voted best player by all the boys is what it's all about."

Ponga sought specialist advice on Thursday about his shoulder injury that requires surgery and threatens to keep him out of next month's Origin series.

He said he will make a final call about whether he will delay the surgery and play in Origin on Friday.

"I got some information on it today and will make a decision tomorrow," he said.

"I'll sit down with a group of people and have a chat about it and then make a call from there."

O'Brien said his fullback was a deserved winner of the club's major award.

"Kalyn has had a terrific season," he said. "He often gets recognition for his flashy plays and while he can do some brilliant things with the ball, I've been most impressed by the things that tend to go unnoticed.

"His defence, efforts off the ball and talk were things that impressed me.

"His toughness is something which is overlooked by a lot of experts but even his harshest critic would acknowledge how gritty some of his performances were."

O'Brien claimed there is still improvement in Ponga with his best yet to come.

"It's easy to forget that he's only 22," he said. "We're just skimming the surface when it comes to KP and what he can do in this game and with this club.

"I couldn't be prouder of KP and to claim the Danny Buderus Medal, in a season where Danny returned to the club as footy general manager, is a fitting way to conclude our season."

Ponga finished the season playing 18 games after missing the early season draw against Penrith in round 3 due to suspension and the club's round 18 loss to the Sydney Roosters after being rested.

Despite being hampered by a shoulder injury over the back-end of the season, he scored 10 tries and had 14 try assists, kicked 46 goals, made 112 tackle breaks and ran for 3502 metres at an average of 184 metres per game.

It was hardly surprising Mann finished runner-up to Ponga with the utility making a big impression at five-eighth before shifting to hooker as the injury crisis cut deep.

Barnett's bravery award [Knight in Shining Armour] came after he recovered from serious neck surgery to play a big role in the side making the finals.

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