wonder why? he sounds good to me. No nonsense hard ass and a successful head coach from England- it worked before.
Has this other bloke O'brien ever had any coaching experience other than assistant ? Jeez I'm nervous.
For quite some time now there has been a clear sense of Wests/Brown looking for those that have come through successful Australian systems - that has been evident in some of the player signings we have targeted, some of the management and staff positions and I think that is flowing through into the coaching philosophy...
On that basis, Fitzgibbon, O'Brien, Ryles, etc. although untested, seem to be the type of candidate being targeted. Whilst we expose ourselves to the risk of a rookie coach, we are potentially bringing through the next generation of Robinson, Bellamy, etc.
I think it is a risky but sound strategy to go with and I hope we land O'Brien, if that is the case because he has the background and foundations from both of the top 2 successful club systems but doesn't come with any of the baggage that other experienced coaches may carry with them.
Not sure if in this forum or somewhere else but I recently came across some info that of the past 27 premiership winning coaches, 23 of them were 1st time coaches at the club they achieved success...food for thought