Defeat to Canterbury was breaking point for Knights and Nathan Brown
The timing of Nathan Brown’s exit from Newcastle may have been unexpected but the outgoing Knights coach realised more than a month ago that he must fall on his sword.
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Newcastle coach Nathan Brown knew his time was up at the Knights six weeks ago.
It was after the Round 17 Friday night loss to the Canterbury Bulldogs, just a week after losing to the Warriors as the Knights’ season began to slip away.
On the following Monday morning chief executive Phil Gardner called a meeting with the embattled coach and informed him there would be a review of the coaching staff at the end of the season.
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Brown knew he had lost the support of board members and key stakeholders.
Also former players, still influential around the club, were applying pressure behind the scenes.
Four more losses and there was no hope.
He couldn’t lift superstars Mitchell Pearce, Kalyn Ponga or Dave Klemmer out of post Origin form slumps.
Brown made his mind up before last weekend’s win over the Cowboys.
On Monday afternoon he walked into Gardner’s office to hand in his resignation, even with the Knights still clinging to a faint hope of playing finals football.
He wouldn’t return phone calls on Monday night because he wanted to tell the players first.
“Nathan decided to make a hard decision easy for the club,” said a Knights official, who asked not to be named.
“He didn’t want any drama or a nasty fall out because he had a great relationship with Phil Gardner.
“He wants to continue coaching and to leave on a good note was important to him.
“He’s seen the damage it can do to other coaches when it gets messy.”
It has been an erratic season for Brown, who was under pressure earlier in the year after a terrible 38-14 round six loss to the Gold Coast Titans.
They miraculously recovered to win six straight games and become finals contenders.
The statistics of his four years in Newcastle don’t tell the complete story.
Brown has coached 93 games at Newcastle for 24 wins with a winning percentage of just 25.8.
He joined the club four years ago when they were at rock bottom but has gradually built them into a finals contender.
“Nathan has done the job he was hired to do,” the official said.
“He warned us there would be pain before we became a finals contender.
“He can leave with his head held high.”
Originally published as Defeat to Canterbury was breaking point for Knights and Nathan Brown
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