Sack Adam O'Brien

[perverse]

What needs to happen is the Knights get a standalone CEO and Wests undertakes to support the Knights with cash (to an extent). NRL360’s point that the top clubs have the CEO and coach working together, not one dictating, and I don’t think we have that.

How? What even is Peter Parr's job?

 

[Alex28]

How? What even is Peter Parr's job?

Football manager isn’t the club CEO. It’s not even close to the same.

How does it happen? Phil probably needs to retire for starters. He is such a good financial manager he can do whatever he wants and the board will back him.

How many of the NRL teams that have a leagues club has a CEO that runs both? Just the one…

They aren’t the same type of business. The football club needs a people leader. The leagues club needs a financial leader. Separate skills.

From what I hear in registered club land he is pulling the pin in a few years. Not sure much will change before then.

 

[perverse]

Football manager isn’t the club CEO. It’s not even close to the same.

How does it happen? Phil probably needs to retire for starters. He is such a good financial manager he can do whatever he wants and the board will back him.

How many of the NRL teams that have a leagues club has a CEO that runs both? Just the one…

They aren’t the same type of business. The football club needs a people leader. The leagues club needs a financial leader. Separate skills.

From what I hear in registered club land he is pulling the pin in a few years. Not sure much will change before then.

And it's your opinion that what... we don't make changes that obviously need to be made because Gardener is the man that is actually responsible for all of this mess, so we just wait until he retires?

My point is you seem very heavy on shifting the blame off the coach, and very light on actually actionable things we can do to avoid watching this mess for another however many years. Getting in a new coach right now will automatically trigger a roster reshuffle as they try to build their own squad. This is what we have available to us. The rest is just honestly complete speculation as far as I can see. There's no mechanism - be it financial or political - within the club to oust Gardener. It's just not going to happen until he wants to.

My point with Parr is I would think he'd probably have some say in football related matters like the coach, the squad, etc. Where as you're just saying Gardener. I don't believe the talking heads on NRL360 know much more about the inner workings of the club than we do.

 

[mozza91]

Our back 5 is definitely up there imo. Only a few teams are better. The rest of our side is the problem.

 

[perverse]

I also just struggle to believe that a man with as many business interests as Gardener really has the time to micromanage our staff and squad. We have blokes employed to do that. It seems a little absurd to me that he'd be doing much more than having final signoff on decisions made by others.

I want a coach that can make our players play to the best of their abilities. It really is that simple. We're nearly 4 years down and all but a handful of our guys have plateaued or gone backwards, and we've brought basically no-one through our systems successfully (that we've managed to hold onto anyway). You can make an argument for Bradman too. We've had a lot of blokes leave in that time make careers for themselves quite successfully elsewhere, though. Quite a growing list, that one.

 

[Alex28]

And it's your opinion that what... we don't make changes that obviously need to be made because Gardener is the man that is actually responsible for all of this mess, so we just wait until he retires?

My point is you seem very heavy on shifting the blame off the coach, and very light on actually actionable things we can do to avoid watching this mess for another however many years. Getting in a new coach right now will automatically trigger a roster reshuffle as they try to build their own squad. This is what we have available to us. The rest is just honestly complete speculation as far as I can see. There's no mechanism - be it financial or political - within the club to oust Gardener. It's just not going to happen until he wants to.

My point with Parr is I would think he'd probably have some say in football related matters like the coach, the squad, etc. Where as you're just saying Gardener. I don't believe the talking heads on NRL360 know much more about the inner workings of the club than we do.

How have we gone since Wests have taken over, under how many different coaches, and what has been the one constant?

I’ve said my opinion around what needs to change. Who is going to force Gardiner out of the board won’t?

 

[perverse]

How have we gone since Wests have taken over, under how many different coaches, and what has been the one constant?

I’ve said my opinion around what needs to change. Who is going to force Gardiner out of the board won’t?

No-one is the obvious answer to that question. And Wests have provided the football department with A LOT.

 

[Alex28]

No-one is the obvious answer to that question. And Wests have provided the football department with A LOT.

Absolutely agree, and we are a much better club for their investment.

However there is a clear conflict of interest. Phil can’t objectively manage both the leagues club and football club. What’s good for the Knights isn’t necessarily what’s good for Wests - and vice versa.

I take what’s said on NRL 360 with a grain of salt - I mean, it’s News Limited journo’s who never really have anything positive to say about the Knights. They aren’t wrong that we have a crazy amount of staff turnover though. We churn through coaches. What changes as a result?

 

[Apey]

Is it?

I actually don’t think it is. We have one Origin player, and I would argue that even if we were in form we would probably only have one other picked (Ponga).

The squad is average. The spine isn’t great. We lack depth in the forwards. This squad is not as good as you say it is.

That doesn’t suit your narrative though, does it?

Whose squad is it?

 

[Apey]

How have we gone since Wests have taken over, under how many different coaches, and what has been the one constant?

I’ve said my opinion around what needs to change. Who is going to force Gardiner out of the board won’t?

You know they took over after we'd just got 3 wooden spoons yeah? Clutching at straws.

You come in here once in a while and have a massive sook that the majority of us think AOB needs to go yet you have some strange delusion that Gardiner is pulling all the strings and is the reason our club/team sucks. I can't begin to comprehend the mental gymnastics that allows you to arrive at this conclusion but you do you.

Hopefully the club realises sooner rather than later that AOB can't coach and its time to go in a different direction. The team has declined since he took over and it's not Gardiner's responsibility to get the team up each week. Yikes.

edited because I didn't see your latest post

 

[Alex28]

You know they took over after we'd just got 3 wooden spoons yeah? Clutching at straws.

You come in here once in a while and have a massive sook that the majority of us think AOB needs to go yet you have some strange delusion that Gardiner is pulling all the strings and is the reason our club/team sucks, and even worse you're pointing to the brain-dead gossip that is NRL360 as some sort of reliable source of information. I can't begin to comprehend the mental gymnastics that allows you to arrive at this conclusion but you do you.

Hopefully the club realises sooner rather than later that AOB can't coach and its time to go in a different direction. The team has declined since he took over and it's not Gardiner's responsibility to get the team up each week. Yikes.

I’ve come here admitting AOB is done.

**Leave the moderator stuff out of it.**

Also, how delusional are you if you don’t think the CEO doesn’t own part of the responsibility for what is wrong with the club?

 

[Spot On]

Yes, but that admission comes with a caveat… and it is not one that acknowledges AOB may not be a decent coach.

It’s that Gardiner calls the shots and no coach can be successful whilst that happens.

 

[Alex28]

Yes, but that admission comes with a caveat… and it is not one that acknowledges AOB may not be a decent coach.

It’s that Gardiner calls the shots and no coach can be successful whilst that happens.

The coach is a super easy scapegoat in any sport.

But when we keep sacking coaches and nothing ever really changes, perhaps it’s time to look further into it.

Remember when everyone thought Anthony Seibold was a bad coach and was never going to get another job after the Broncos?

Sometimes the coach takes the brunt for a poorly run club because he is the public face for it.

Time will tell if he is a good coach elsewhere. There is such a shortage of good experienced coaches in the NRL that someone will take him on.

 

[Jono078]

They aren’t wrong that we have a crazy amount of staff turnover though. We churn through coaches. What changes as a result?

This was the most concerning takeaway from what was mentioned on NRL 360.

We all know this is true and it's not just coaches - we know assistant coaches move on and get promoted elsewhere. But even our fitness staff, our social media dude.. There is a pattern of not being able to lock down certain staff and I hope it's not because of a poor work environment.

 

[Spot On]

The coach is a super easy scapegoat in any sport.

But when we keep sacking coaches and nothing ever really changes, perhaps it’s time to look further into it.

Remember when everyone thought Anthony Seibold was a bad coach and was never going to get another job after the Broncos?

Sometimes the coach takes the brunt for a poorly run club because he is the public face for it.

Time will tell if he is a good coach elsewhere. There is such a shortage of good experienced coaches in the NRL that someone will take him on.

Possibly.

People thought the same of Nathan Brown.

But then his stint at the Warriors was a continuation of the results he had at Newy.

 

[Apey]

I’ve come here admitting AOB is done.

Oh please, you've been dragged kicking and screaming to even 'admit' that, it's not like we can't work out how scorned you are over that possibility. You've made it pretty clear you think it's the wrong call. It will just be more ammunition for your delusion that Gardiner/Wests are more to blame for why our team has regressed pretty much since AOB took over.

 

[Apey]

Remember when everyone thought Anthony Seibold was a bad coach and was never going to get another job after the Broncos?

Yes, because everyone still thinks that, most of all Manly fans. That club that is 2 points above us on the ladder running 13th.

I'm sure someone would pick up AOB eventually. I mean, Trent Barrett kept getting jobs. Nobody is picking him up next year or the year after if we sacked him this year though, because the other clubs with dud coaches just ditched their dud coaches and hired someone better.

 

[Yosh]

If we divide on-field performance and off field-performance since Wests took over, maybe 3/10 for on-field and off-field gets a 9/10? Can't say it's been all bad. Off-field performance usually leads to on-field performance. Super frustrating but are we being too hasty and harsh? The Knights have been terrible for 20 years but Wests have only been in charge a couple of of those years.

 

[Knight Tales]

Alex I don’t have a narrative mate. It is just how it is. O’Brien talks in circles.I am willing to bet that chatter on Fox about Phil G allegedly running recruitment behind the scenes is a leak from Isaac Moses. It has never been raised before that I can recall. He employed Parr to prevent this very thing being wrongly attributed to him. The writing is on the wall.

 

[aqua_duck]

Football manager isn’t the club CEO. It’s not even close to the same.

How does it happen? Phil probably needs to retire for starters. He is such a good financial manager he can do whatever he wants and the board will back him.

How many of the NRL teams that have a leagues club has a CEO that runs both? Just the one…

They aren’t the same type of business. The football club needs a people leader. The leagues club needs a financial leader. Separate skills.

From what I hear in registered club land he is pulling the pin in a few years. Not sure much will change before then.

Parr’s role is director of football which is different to a football manager who acts in an operational support capacity at most clubs. In terms of football and leagues club joint CEO, I’m a fan of the idea but the roosters and Panthers also have a single ceo so it’s not a unique concept.

The coach is a super easy scapegoat in any sport.

But when we keep sacking coaches and nothing ever really changes, perhaps it’s time to look further into it.

Remember when everyone thought Anthony Seibold was a bad coach and was never going to get another job after the Broncos?

Sometimes the coach takes the brunt for a poorly run club because he is the public face for it.

Time will tell if he is a good coach elsewhere. There is such a shortage of good experienced coaches in the NRL that someone will take him on.

How do you classify AOB as a good experienced coach? Also what do you think puts him above guys like Stone, Mary, Morris or Jason Taylor even?
Before any assumptions are made I’m not advocating for hiring any of the above names but merely painting a picture of what tier of coach AOB is in according to his record.
AOB might be a decent coach under all the supposed circumstances but there is literally nothing in his body of work to suggest he’s even an average NRL coach