Sack Adam O'Brien

[Woody90]

I don’t think we should assume AOB is 100% safe just because the recruitment officer likes him.

O’Sullivan is obviously good at his job but he’s not on the board.

 

[Woody90]

Neither Smithy or Bennett hung around to finish the job.

We were starting to get worse under Bennett in 2014 before he decided to move on.

Smith was a great coach for us though.

 

[Burwood]

Knights need to give someone new to NRL their start as coach. It just fits with their history and culture that someone could come in and grow with the team. They did it with players, so they could do it with coaches. And you can’t say there aren’t coaches out there in the Hunter region (or elsewhere) who couldn’t give it a red hot crack.

Why Kurri Kurri is parting ways with veteran coach Rip Taylor

NEW DIRECTION: Experienced mentor to depart early.

www.newcastleherald.com.au

All the planets seem to be aligning for this to eventuate…

 

[Yosh]

Why Kurri Kurri is parting ways with veteran coach Rip Taylor

NEW DIRECTION: Experienced mentor to depart early.

www.newcastleherald.com.au

All the planets seem to be aligning for this to eventuate…

Whats the article say?

 

[Burwood]

Whats the article say?

Rip Taylor will coach the season out at Kurri Kurri but will depart the Newcastle Rugby League club just one year into a three-year deal.
Interim Kurri Kurri president Daryl Chapman said the decision to part wayscame because it just simply "wasn't working out" amid another difficult year.
The Bulldogs remain winless and dead last in 2024, and have not won a game in more than two years.
Taylor, with one of the most successful coaching resumes outside NRL level, arrived at the club late last year and brought renewed hope with his experience and a long list of players he had previously coached to try and call upon.

From memory there was a big push from Roopy years ago to have him take over as coach after being quite successful in the lower grades.

 

[perverse]

Why would we want a bloke that the Kurri Kurri Bulldogs deemed wasn't good enough for them?

 

[Peach & Apricot]

Bring back Brian Smith.

 

[Burwood]

Why would we want a bloke that the Kurri Kurri Bulldogs deemed wasn't good enough for them?

We wouldn’t.

 

[perverse]

Bring back Brian Smith.

Easily our best coach of the post-Johns era. Daylight second. God I used to love his press conferences. What a weird genius. Failing to sign him to a longer term deal was a true sliding doors moment for the club.

Will never get the credit he deserves in the history books due to the missing trophy.

 

[Apey]

Easily our best coach of the post-Johns era. Daylight second. God I used to love his press conferences. What a weird genius. Failing to sign him to a longer term deal was a true sliding doors moment for the club.

Will never get the credit he deserves in the history books due to the missing trophy.

Yeah well an 8 year old girl with crayons disagreed with you.

 

[perverse]

Yeah well an 8 year old girl with crayons disagreed with you.

Little Sarah Matterson, if memory serves me. She'd be old enough to drink now. Hope her bin juice takes have improved a bit since.

 

[Knight Tales]

The sad part is Smithy would jump at the chance. How good would it be!

 

[mozza91]

Little Sarah Matterson, if memory serves me. She'd be old enough to drink now. Hope her bin juice takes have improved a bit since.

She was a figment of Josh Massoud’s imagination. The writing was way too shit for an 8 year old.

 

[The Axe of Druss]

Easily our best coach of the post-Johns era. Daylight second. God I used to love his press conferences. What a weird genius. Failing to sign him to a longer term deal was a true sliding doors moment for the club.

Will never get the credit he deserves in the history books due to the missing trophy.

Nah hes too much of a 9ball

 

[Knight Tales]

a long off season it will be. Maybe some clarity too.

 

[NK Arsenal]

Best coach the game has ever seen i can’t believe i ever doubted him

 

[Yosh]

4 top 8 finishes in 5 seasons. Amazing coach. Pity literally we finish 8th and scrap in all the time lol.

 

[Mr_Knightside]

4 top 8 finishes in 5 seasons. Amazing coach. Pity literally we finish 8th and scrap in all the time lol.

TBF we’ve finished 7th, 7th, 5th and 8th as the 4 finals appearances so not entirely true. But I get your point Yosh. Apart from last year it’s felt like we’ve just clawed our way in there.

 

[Haffa]

TBF we’ve finished 7th, 7th, 5th and 8th as the 4 finals appearances so not entirely true. But I get your point Yosh. Apart from last year it’s felt like we’ve just clawed our way in there.

We have pretty much.

2020 - Covid year. stayed 6th or 7th from round 11 - 20. Lost 36-6 away to the GC with a home final on the line. Limped out in the semi to Souffs.
2021 - 11th coming into round 20. Won 5 games in a row to jump to 7th.
2022 - Finished the year with 2 wins from our final 12 games. Those wins were against the GC and the Tigers.
2023 - 14th after 17 rounds. 9 in a row only moved us as high as 5th.
2024 - 7th is the highest we have been on the ladder all season and that was only for one week.

2020 is the only season we have looked like a solid top 8 side for any extended period of time. Prelim should be the minimum level expected for the club by now.

 

[Woody90]

We have pretty much.

2020 - Covid year. stayed 6th or 7th from round 11 - 20. Lost 36-6 away to the GC with a home final on the line. Limped out in the semi to Souffs.
2021 - 11th coming into round 20. Won 5 games in a row to jump to 7th.
2022 - Finished the year with 2 wins from our final 12 games. Those wins were against the GC and the Tigers.
2023 - 14th after 17 rounds. 9 in a row only moved us as high as 5th.
2024 - 7th is the highest we have been on the ladder all season and that was only for one week.

2020 is the only season we have looked like a solid top 8 side for any extended period of time. Prelim should be the minimum level expected for the club by now.

I think what is shows is that we’ve probably hit our peak with AOB. We could 100% go worse under another coach which I say is why we haven’t bitten the bullet yet, but as as happy as we all are to be in the finals most years, we’re in the same place we were 5 years ago, scraping into the bottom of the 8 late in the season for an early exit.

He’s done a decent enough job to take us from a consistent spoon side to a fridge top 8 side, but we most likely need a change to take us to another level (a proper spine too).