If O'Brien is Gone......

[roosterproud]

Im a big fan of Garth Brennan. What he has done with the riff over the years has been a standout. Under 20 nyc and intrust development. Sure his adventure up here on the gold coast didnt work , but you cant polish a turd.
2 birds with one stone as he is also talent scout

[top_joe]

What about Trent Barrett as a replacement???

I like it a lot. Coops to stay on as halves coach/mentor like Joey did (except actually being good at the role).

[DP1990]

Who would you pick as the Assistant Coach if the following options are available: Nathan Brown, Geoff Toovey, Trent Barrett or Jason Taylor ?

[NorthChook]

Newcastle are a mess - surely even O'Brien who wants an opportunity would be having second thoughts

[BUDDY]

Newcastle are a mess - surely even O'Brien who wants an opportunity would be having second thoughts

A big ask to take a basket case like Newcastle. It can make or break him.

He has to find his own assistants, his own medical staff, his own sports science specialists and other staff.

Not to mention manage the players.

If he fails he probably struggles to find another NRL job. If he succeeds then he is one of the new breed supercoaches.

And Newcastle will demand immediate success. But he does get a great roster on paper to start with. I wish him luck.

Is it a coincidence that Pearce was part of the player group of 2012 who got rid of Smith?

[ism22]

A big ask to take a basket case like Newcastle. It can make or break him.

He has to find his own assistants, his own medical staff, his own sports science specialists and other staff.

Not to mention manage the players.

If he fails he probably struggles to find another NRL job. If he succeeds then he is one of the new breed supercoaches.

And Newcastle will demand immediate success. But he does get a great roster on paper to start with. I wish him luck.

Is it a coincidence that Pearce was part of the player group of 2012 who got rid of Smith?

Fair point... and I doubt anybody from the Storm or Roosters is gonna want an at-level transfer to Newcastle with the opportunity of a lifetime to work under O'Brien.

I wish him all the best but at the same time it seems like a pretty darn risky move. Guessing something we don't see is the $$$. Presumably he'd be seeing a solid 7-figure, performance-based contract from Newcastle versus a lowish 6-figure salary (also performance based) in Sydney or Melbourne. If I were a betting man:
- Getting the Knights' roster into the 8 is well and truely possible.
- If somebody offered me $1 million to do so (or $500k to fail) as opposed to a steady $150k a year then it's a no brainer. The risk of being sacked within 2 years is significantly outweighed by the rewards.
- From a career perspective, 'head coach or an NRL team' looks pretty good on your CV. I reckon no matter how he goes, it'll open more doors than 'assistant coach' would open.
- The odds of being offered the keys to a better club are zilch. The Knights are shyte but they have a decent roster. I'm sure many aspiring coaches would love the opportunity to work with Ponga, Pearce, Watson, Lino, Klemmer, Guerra, Glasby, Ese'ese...etc. They've got the playmakers and forwards to make the 8 IMO. Subjective/cultural considerations aside, it's a good opportunity for an aspiring head coach.

[Louis N]

Pearce's reaction to Brown's dismissal said it all didn't it. Laughing and joking publicly, whie suggesting his mother may be approached. There's loyalty for you. The Pearce character is finally unfolding and why I was ecstatic when we signed a player of true character and commitment in Cooper Cronk. Ponga's wasn't a great deal better but his youth and the infuences around him could be the reason he acted like a potato head.

My concern with O'Brien. And I've said this from day one on this is O'Brien is like a stranger being invited to dinner at the castle (being the Roosters) and walking off with the cutlery among other things. This is a competitive world, where trust is paramount. We have extended that to O'Brien.Yet a good ten week outside the season this Newcastle rubbish begins. O'Brien is the central traget. We are trying to win back ti backs and developing a great junior base.

Where is O'Brien going to look first? You don't have to be Einstein.

Less than one year and ten weeks ago O'Brien was crying as he spoke at the Storm's wards night. Lauding praise on Bellamy who said he will always pedge his loyalty. We have experienced less than one year of that loyalty. It's not my cop. But we shall wait and see. I'm far from the head cop.

["gaz"]

Eric Smith coach of the Sunshine Coast Falcons might be worth a look.
His side leads the QRL Intrust super cup with 828 points for, and 264 points against with a 564 differential

[Mickie Lane]

What about Trent Barrett as a replacement???

I didn’t know you were a comedian Nathan, one of your best. Penrith have been dumb enough to employ his as an assistant next year.

[The Lip]

I didn’t know you were a comedian Nathan, one of your best. Penrith have been dumb enough to employ his as an assistant next year.

Agreed Mickie - Barrett is not a good choice at all. Look at what a decent coach has done with the same if not weaker squad at manly than what Barrett did with them.

[rented tracksuit]

A big ask to take a basket case like Newcastle. It can make or break him.

He has to find his own assistants, his own medical staff, his own sports science specialists and other staff.

Not to mention manage the players.

If he fails he probably struggles to find another NRL job. If he succeeds then he is one of the new breed supercoaches.

And Newcastle will demand immediate success. But he does get a great roster on paper to start with. I wish him luck.

Is it a coincidence that Pearce was part of the player group of 2012 who got rid of Smith?

Thank you MP.

[Jacks Fur Coat]

Pearce's reaction to Brown's dismissal said it all didn't it. Laughing and joking publicly, whie suggesting his mother may be approached. There's loyalty for you. The Pearce character is finally unfolding and why I was ecstatic when we signed a player of true character and commitment in Cooper Cronk. Ponga's wasn't a great deal better but his youth and the infuences around him could be the reason he acted like a potato head.

My concern with O'Brien. And I've said this from day one on this is O'Brien is like a stranger being invited to dinner at the castle (being the Roosters) and walking off with the cutlery among other things. This is a competitive world, where trust is paramount. We have extended that to O'Brien.Yet a good ten week outside the season this Newcastle rubbish begins. O'Brien is the central traget. We are trying to win back ti backs and developing a great junior base.

Where is O'Brien going to look first? You don't have to be Einstein.

Less than ten weeks ago O'Brien was crying as he spoke at the Storm's wards night. Lauding praise on Bellamy who said he will always pladge his loyalty. Guess he did that by joining Easts. If what we read is true, we have experienced less than one year of that loyalty. It's not my cop. But we shall wait and see.

Ponga was worse than Pearce.

But guys like Pearce and Klemmer have come across pretty poor as well.

Browny doesn't deserve that lot.

[Tommy Smith]

A big ask to take a basket case like Newcastle. It can make or break him.

He has to find his own assistants, his own medical staff, his own sports science specialists and other staff.

Not to mention manage the players.

If he fails he probably struggles to find another NRL job. If he succeeds then he is one of the new breed supercoaches.

And Newcastle will demand immediate success. But he does get a great roster on paper to start with. I wish him luck.

Is it a coincidence that Pearce was part of the player group of 2012 who got rid of Smith?

The Knights squad is vastly overrated.

They are top heavy with very little depth.

Crucially they have tried to buy their way to success, which never works. See the Roosters post Fittler during the Anasta, Mason, O'Meley, Ash Harrison and so on era.

It was a disaster.

You need to BUILD success. Build it from within. The foundation must be a core group of players who've come through the system and are willing to bleed for one another and genuinely love the jersey and club.

See our current core of Boyd, Aubo, Jake, JWH and a few others as proof.

Only when you've got this core can you buy the two or three stars as the "cherries on top" to complete the roster - see our 1, 6 and 7.

The Knights don't have anything like our foundation. Instead they've scabbed together a bunch of our burnt ends that we offloaded, who let's face it, were never at the vanguard of our strong culture anyway.

And alongside them is a very flakey "homegrown" core in Sione, Fitzgibbon the Saifiti's and... who am I missing? That's flimsy at best.

The big name signings in Ponga, Klemmer and Pearce have patched over these shortcomings intermittently but over the course of the season their true fragility has shown through - which is that of a club devoid of a hardened core group who would set the tone for the club culture.

Essentially, the road ahead for the Knights is long and O'Brien is in for a big shock if he thinks they have a gun roster that is ready to be contenders.

[Cockadoodledoo]

Who would you pick as the Assistant Coach if the following options are available: Nathan Brown, Geoff Toovey, Trent Barrett or Jason Taylor ?

None of the above.

[ism22]

Ponga was worse than Pearce.

But guys like Pearce and Klemmer have come across pretty poor as well.

Browny doesn't deserve that lot.

I think it's gotta be one of the challenges of coaching in the NRL... you're organising a bunch of impulsive clowns who probably ran amok in high school and then got elevated straight into 6 (or even 7) figure salaries based on their footy skills (which often come pretty naturally despite players smoking durries and giving zero shyte about their health/development...etc).

I wouldn't wanna be a coach. Robbo does a bloody good job to manage us properly. Not rooting for Smith or anything but IMO him and Braith did a lot of thankless heavy lifting.

Brown said that he's a development coach rather than a premiership coach. IMO that's a valid call. Somebody's gotta go in and put up with a heap of BS before you can reap the rewards.

People are knocking Newcastle but I honestly think it's about the best team an aspiring coach could inherit. Systems... no. Culture... fark no (unless you just wanna earn $1 million, blow it on coke/pills/hookers and pretend it never happened). However, the right coach could get those flogs to take themselves seriously and pull off some decent results. They SHOULD be making the 8. Fukking Ponga, Pearce, Klemmer, Guerra, Glasby, Saifiti, Moga, SKD, Matty Utai, Watson, Lino...etc are all supposed to be guns. Some teams are just shyte and I feel sorry for them. Knights have a bunch of talented players who just need to trade a bit of the pills/coke/hookers for a few serious training sessions and they'll make the 8. The jersey kissing and being wankaz can go too... it makes people wanna put cricket scores on them.