Since 2020, Adam O’Brien has been coaching the Knights making finals in four of five seasons, with a 1-4 record, 96 points scored, 170 conceded. Now let’s run the gauntlet.
Our highest platform set was in 2023 coming fifth, including our record 66-0 win, winning ten in a row, home final and the second week of the finals.
Now let’s discuss the role O’Brien has, he is the coach. That’s his contribution to the club. Phil Gardiner is the CEO, Peter Parr is the head of football and Peter O’Sullivan is the recruiting manager.
What’s the difference between the role of the coach and all three others mentioned? The coach has absolutely nothing to do with the office. Since Parr came to town, the office and pathways have been on a great path.
Now I know a fair few people who love to question AOB’s coaching. They have every right to.
Let’s backtrack here shall we? Who coached the Newcastle from 2016-2019? Nathan Brown. We never won a premiership with his coaching nor did we make it to the finals. Our first season with Browny saw us only win one game, lose our last 18 games and in one match, we got massacred 62-0.
Getting thrashed in 2016 was sadly a regular occurrence. His role was to rebuild the club, which he did. That’s all he was able to do as that’s his specialty.
I’ll name another coach who has never played nor coached the Knights: Ivan Cleary. How many stints has he coached Penrith for? Two.
His first stint was from 2012-2015, in those four years Panthers only made the finals one out of four seasons. In 2019, Cleary returned to Penrith. Did they make the finals? No. From 2020-2024, the Penrith Panthers have made five consecutive grand finals, losing slightly in 2020 and from 2021-2024, Panthers have won four in a row.
All of this was based upon Penrith taking care of their large nursery. Cleary had no involvement in blooding up the juniors, that’s a front office job.
Adam O’Brien. (Photo by Tony Feder/Getty Images)
Newcastle is surrounded by the Hunter Valley, which has got many nurseries for the Knights to make the best of. O’Brien hasn’t been given enough credit due for blooding our juniors into first grade regulars. I strongly believe we need a decent experienced halfback to be a force and as an extra mentor to our junior halves.
With all the cards O’Brien has been given since his start, I would call rate him a six out of ten. Is that a pass or a fail? Neither. You may see I gave him a six but just because he’s over 50 per cent, doesn’t mean it’s a pass. He’s gotten us into the finals four out of five seasons but hasn’t progressed further than the second week. This is my scale:
8-10: Pass
4-7: Neither
0-3: Fail
With O’Brien’s contract set to expire in 2027, he needs to set his platform towards coaching the Knights to a top-four finish and a premiership to prove to himself and us fans that he can make that his glass ceiling.
Roarers, I’ve said all I feel that was necessary and now I’ll pass the mic to you.