Sack Adam O'Brien

[Alex28]

Online saying we are going to go for Josh Hannay.

SMH, News, Newcastle Herald all saying Green.

 

[perverse]

I reckon a lot of players would be willing to jump ship for a big chunk of Ponga's money.

We're not allowed to talk to anyone that's contracted. We're not the Roosters or Phil Gould. We could put out the bat signal and hope to get a bite I suppose, but that's about it.

 

[The Axe of Druss]

No no, this whole thread has been "Just sack him immediately!!!" no context or realistic replacements thrown up. Blake Green would be hilarious.

Pretty sure plenty of options have been thrown up over the course of this thread mate

Being deliberately obtuse isn't a good strategy but you do you

 

[Zoidberg]

I mean, if KP pulls the plug right now then that's exactly what he would be doing. Where are we going to spend $1.4m for next year?

I would play hardball with him about next season from here tbh. Needs to be something in it for us, or a genuine replacement arranged *before* he leaves.

I’m more thinking, if KP wants to leave, does that mean he isn’t happy here? so what would we get out of him next year? If he goes end of this year, it gives us the opportunity to look for someone for next year and if that doesn’t happen, the year after (but that causes an issue with underspending in the cap).
We have a quick “fix” of Sharpe to 1. Brown to 6. and Gamble/Cogger/Arthur to 7.
I don’t want KP to leave. But if he does I’d rather have next year be a rebuild from the start. New coach, Sharpe to have his first full year at fullback, Brown his first year at the club, hopefully a new hooker.
I’m kinda just over all the uncertainty.

 

[SamSepi0l]

SMH, News, Newcastle Herald all saying Green.

Knights heard fans saying anyone would be better and want to test it.

 

[Woosh]

SMH, News, Newcastle Herald all saying Green.

The players love Green.
He’s a real footy nut.
I wouldn’t read too much into how the attack has been the last couple of years.
AOB abandoned everything Green had implemented in attack during the 2023/2024 preseason after losing the opening two games of 2024.

 

[jonno_knights]

Brad Arthur reveals definitive Leeds Rhinos deadline on 2026 plans

Leeds Rhinos head coach Brad Arthur has confirmed he will fully discuss his 2026 plans with Sporting Director Ian Blease at the end of this month.

www.loverugbyleague.com

Well timing is everything in rugby league. And this still seems like the most plausible outcome unless I've missed something.

Could he bring anyone back with him? I don't recall Cooper Jenkins so not sure if he left on good terms, but appears to tick a few boxes. Plays prop, knights junior, good pedigree. Can be excused for slower development as had had a few injuries.

What's Crofts form been like? Never really rated him when he was in the NRL though.

 

[Apey]

I'd can AOB for Michael Hagan if it meant changing things up. If we go with Green it's not going to be a 5 year deal we can't back out of, come on.

He's nearly our longest serving coach now who on paper has got us to a higher % of playing finals than any other long-serving coach. If we can finally sack him I am pretty sure we won't hesitate to sack a rookie if they aren't performing.

 

[perverse]

I’m more thinking, if KP wants to leave, does that mean he isn’t happy here? so what would we get out of him next year? If he goes end of this year, it gives us the opportunity to look for someone for next year and if that doesn’t happen, the year after (but that causes an issue with underspending in the cap).
We have a quick “fix” of Sharpe to 1. Brown to 6. and Gamble/Cogger/Arthur to 7.
I don’t want KP to leave. But if he does I’d rather have next year be a rebuild from the start. New coach, Sharpe to have his first full year at fullback, Brown his first year at the club, hopefully a new hooker.
I’m kinda just over all the uncertainty.

I really don't know. I'm not sure what the NRL and the RLPA would say about us leaving 10-15% of our salary cap in our pocket "just in case" leading into a season. I don't think they'd like it, given the existing salary cap rules.

The players love Green.
He’s a real footy nut.
I wouldn’t read too much into how the attack has been the last couple of years.
AOB abandoned everything Green had implemented in attack during the 2023/2024 preseason after losing the opening two games of 2024.

Madness if true. Wouldn't be overly surprised though.

 

[Burwood]

Any coach in the Super League could be an option- pretty sure most of them would have a get-out clause in their contract regarding picking up an NRL gig.

No way Green gets a one-year deal, especially if he’s managed by Moses. Absolute minimum of two years. Also don’t buy into Green being the reason behind our attacking woes.

But how many assistant coaches have moved into the head coaching role at the same club and succeeded? No one really pops into mind recently (Too early to tell with Wolfe).

 

[Alex28]

Brad Arthur reveals definitive Leeds Rhinos deadline on 2026 plans

Leeds Rhinos head coach Brad Arthur has confirmed he will fully discuss his 2026 plans with Sporting Director Ian Blease at the end of this month.

www.loverugbyleague.com

Well timing is everything in rugby league. And this still seems like the most plausible outcome unless I've missed something.

Could he bring anyone back with him? I don't recall Cooper Jenkins so not sure if he left on good terms, but appears to tick a few boxes. Plays prop, knights junior, good pedigree. Can be excused for slower development as had had a few injuries.

What's Crofts form been like? Never really rated him when he was in the NRL though.

Hasn’t he recently said he doesn’t want to coach his kids again?

 

[Woody90]

If we go with Green it's not going to be a 5 year deal we can't back out of, come on.

… If we can finally sack him I am pretty sure we won't hesitate to sack a rookie if they aren't performing.

The one thing we have in our favour atm in terms of attracting a coach is that we’re not quick to knife our coaches. The club supported AOB for a long time. Any new coach going for the job here is at least going to be reassured thinking they’re going to get the time and support to find their feet.

We sack Green in 12-18 months and all of a sudden we’re in Titans territory where no good coach would ever want to go near us.

IMO this is the biggest coaching appointment we’re going to make in a really long time. We can’t do it half arsed and just make a change for the sake of it with the old “anyone would be better than AOB”, because that’s probably not going to be the case.

 

[SamSepi0l]

Yup, change for the sake of change is how bad teams stay bad.

 

[Apey]

I mean it really comes down to what Green wants, if we are actually seriously considering him. Nobody else is going to take him for a head coach gig when they read he's the Newcastle Knights attacking coach. Does he want to be a head coach or is he going to fill in for a year? I'd be surprised if we bothered to give him more than a year, but we did put a 'finish above 12th' clause in our current coach's contract, so yeah it'd be on brand for us to give him more.

And tbh I just flat out disagree with the above, sticking strong with AOB hasn't done us any favours, it's time for a change for the sake of change at the absolute minimum - and I do agree Green would be the absolute minimum. Well... among any of the names touted, anyway,

 

[Haffa]

SMH, News, Newcastle Herald all saying Green.

Two of those are the same thing. They both mention Hannay on top of Green

 

[Haffa]

Yup, change for the sake of change is how bad teams stay bad.

This club has never changed for the sake of change and we’ve remained a bad club for 20 years. Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.

 

[Alex28]

Two of those are the same thing. They both mention Hannay on top of Green

SMH and the Herald have different owners. Not the same thing.

 

[Alex28]

I mean it really comes down to what Green wants, if we are actually seriously considering him. Nobody else is going to take him for a head coach gig when they read he's the Newcastle Knights attacking coach. Does he want to be a head coach or is he going to fill in for a year? I'd be surprised if we bothered to give him more than a year, but we did put a 'finish above 12th' clause in our current coach's contract, so yeah it'd be on brand for us to give him more.

And tbh I just flat out disagree with the above, sticking strong with AOB hasn't done us any favours, it's time for a change for the sake of change at the absolute minimum - and I do agree Green would be the absolute minimum. Well... among any of the names touted, anyway,

You are super critical of the club giving AOB the 12th place clause in his contract, yet your answer for the future for the club is “change for the sake of change”.

If we are going to change - and I think that it has to happen - it has to be for the betterment of the club. It has to have some purpose, and a plan on how we are going to improve across the board.

Not just “change for the sake of change”. This is Facebook fan bullshit.

 

[Mr_Knightside]

Why would Green take over for 1 year and where is that even being suggested? Why would the club be wanting to appoint him for a year anyway? Either they believe he’s good enough to be the long term coach or they don’t. All the evidence over the last few years shows that he’s not up to it given how our attack has performed.

The only think that would make sense there is if the club has their eyes on a particular coach that they can’t get until 2027 so they want Green to hold the fort for a year in the meantime. But if that’s the case why do it in the first place, why not just stick with AOB for one more year? and what incentive is there for Green to do it if he knows he knows he will lose his gig after 12 months anyway and it’s likely a new coach comes in and wants a new coaching staff too.

Further to that, players aren’t going to sign for us if they know that the coach is only there for 12 months, and Green wouldn’t have any incentive to build a squad for the long term if he knows he won’t be there to see it through.

I dunno, this whole thing about Green taking over for a season doesn’t make any sense to me.

 

[Woody90]

And tbh I just flat out disagree with the above, sticking strong with AOB hasn't done us any favours, it's time for a change for the sake of change at the absolute minimum - and I do agree Green would be the absolute minimum. Well... among any of the names touted, anyway,

Not saying we don’t need a change but it’s the changing for Green that I find absolutely ridiculous. If we want to go for a cheap replacement option then even McDermott would be the better option surely. At least the part of the game he coaches the players are buying into.

AOB needs to go, but I’ve been long saying that Green needs to go with him, not replace him lol.

This is literally the equivalent of the Titans hiring their defensive coach as Des’ replacement. Let that sink in for a moment…