NRL coaching clipboard: Knights coach Adam O’Brien on halves puzzle, star English imports

Incumbent Newcastle halves Jackson Hastings and Tyson Gamble are under pressure from a premiership-winning recruit. Coach Adam O’Brien talks to PAM WHALEY about selections and premiership aspirations.

Newcastle coach Adam O'Brien. Picture: Ian Hitchcock/Getty Images

Incumbent Newcastle halves Jackson Hastings and Tyson Gamble are under pressure from a premiership-winning recruit. Coach Adam O’Brien talks to PAM WHALEY about selections and premiership aspirations.

Pamela Whaley: After last year’s semi-finals finish, how hungry is this group to go further this year?

Adam O’Brien: It’s funny, the first year here, I’d finished with the Roosters in 2019 and I came up early because I was just itching to get up here and there were already nine guys in a month earlier than they had to be. And then I showed up and the next day we had 23, so word got around pretty quickly that the coach was here. They were hungry then.

But this time, the pleasing part is the hunger levels aren’t coming off a bad season and everyone wants to make amends, that’s actually coming off a good season and they’re hungry for more.

It’s coming from a more positive place, which is great. This is the best condition that I’ve seen this group. It’s just been really pleasing to see how hungry they are. There’s a lot of belief in the group that they’re a finals team and we belong in that arena. So that’s been excellent.

PW: It was an incredible end to the season. The winning streak into the crowd at the first finals game at home in years. What kind of an impact has it had on the club and the team itself?

AO: I feel like everyone talks about the 10 winning games, and rightfully so. But there were only two games that were really disappointing. One was the Parramatta game and then the Cronulla one in Coffs Harbour.

But for the most part, even when we weren’t getting results, there was enough evidence there that we had something with this group and we just had to hold our nerve.

Confidence is evidence-based. So once you do get a couple of wins, that can springboard it. But I feel like the group were performing at a much higher standard than we had been in previous years.

Just to ride the town, how much it lifts our town and supporters and they’ve been great. We haven’t always got the result. But they can be happy with their footy team if we’ve had a go.

The boys carry a lot of weight on their performance. It’s been a running joke for years that if you win you’re doing your shopping at 5pm, and if you lose it’s at 11.

Newcastle coach Adam O'Brien. Picture: Ian Hitchcock/Getty Images

PW: Was the semi-final loss to the Warriors an even bigger sting considering the high of the week before?

AO: There was obviously disappointment at the time, and I think I said, we didn’t deserve that. But we deserved it the way we approached it.

To be fair to them we were running on empty at the end. We lost four key guys in those last couple of games, obviously Kalyn (Ponga) had the big injury against Cronulla.

And he nursed that through the next couple of games bravely, but we lost Jackson Hastings and Daniel Saifiti and Lachlan Fitzgibbon. And we sort of limped over there.

So it was hard to be too critical.

PW: You’ve lost a handful of players: Dom Young, Lachlan Fitzgibbon and Kurt Mann. But you’ve gained a few in Jack Cogger from Penrith and the English boys, Will Pryce and Kai Pearce-Paul. How will they fit into the team?

AO: You’d like to keep everyone. Lachlan Fitzgibbon’s been a great servant for the club, but to see him be able to add to his career overseas, you know, no one stands in his way of that. We would love to have kept Dom but the guys that have been brought in have been excellent.

The two Poms in Kai and Will have been great. Kai’s been on an adjusted summer after surgery on his foot which will be great for him long term. He’s back out on the field now. Will is an X-Factor, and he’s just added so much to our culture. He’s a really positive guy, he brings a lot of energy, and he’s got a lot of footy in him.

I don’t want to over-coach him. I’m prepared to play the long game with Will. He’s got some stuff to take us to another level and that may take a bit of time and I don’t want to rush it.

With Jack, the confidence that he’s got over the last couple of seasons, he’s obviously been in a really good system from Penrith. He’s learned a lot about footy. He’s learned a lot about himself and the game.

Tyson Gamble Picture: NRL Photos/Gregg Porteous

Jackson Hastings. Picture: Jeremy Ng/Getty Images

PW: Most people would assume Jack Cogger will be a starting half but Jackson Hastings and Tyson Gamble did a great job last year. Is it that simple?

AO: We’re still tinkering with the combinations. As you get closer to trials you want to get a bit more continuity, especially defensively.

But Jack has played seven and six at Penrith and filled in for Nathan Cleary and Jarome Luai. He’s versatile and it’s the same for Jackson, he can play a number of roles as well.

The good thing about both of them, because they’re footy heads, they understand how to direct the team around. I haven’t locked anyone in.

PW: When will Kai Pearce-Paul be ready to play after that foot surgery?

AO: I’d expect him to play some time in trials. He carried the injury for a couple of years and just given his age, it’s the right thing to do for his long term career. He would have been managing it and not on full training loads. We made the long term decision for short term pain.

English recruits Kai Pearce-Paul and Will Pryce wearing Newcastle colours for the first time. Picture: Supplied.

PW: What about Kalyn? He had an amazing season last year but what do you want from him heading into 2024?

AO: The hunger that I spoke of, he’s been a very, very big driver of it. His determination to back up the season he had, he wants to win just about everything every day.

I couldn’t be happier with him. He’s matured a lot over the years, he’s obviously the captain and leads by example out on the training track but off field to see so much growth in his maturity and he’s determination to be successful, not only for himself but for the town.

PW: We’ve rarely seen a back end to a season like he had...

AO: I think it was probably really underrated in terms of the positional change, and then at one stage he’s going on over to Canada not knowing whether he had a footy career, and to be able to come back and do what he did is a remarkable story. It’ll make a good movie one day.

PW: Any big lessons out of the season that you can take for yourself in 2024?

AO: The big thing for me was the belief. I was really proud of the staff and the players to hold our nerve when a couple of results didn’t go our way, we didn’t hit the panic button.

I guess it’s a bit of growth and maturity in not only the players but me as well. We’ve been through a lot as a club in terms of injuries and setbacks, to show mental fortitude and stay the course, I’m really proud of that.

PW: Did you have any self doubt around whether you were coaching the team the right way?

AO: I’ve been in strong systems before and with my age and experience I just really wanted to replicate what those clubs had created. But in hindsight, the reality is it takes time.

It’s unrealistic to expect too much too soon.

We were fortunate we played finals my first two years here and then we had that dip in 2022, and I don’t like going back there too often, but it was a tough year.

There was a lot of learnings. I was erratic then, I couldn’t quite put my finger on why we weren’t having the season we wanted.

Letting Mitchell (Pearce) go hurt a lot and then we had an injury to Kalyn as well. We had to go through a lot but we learnt a lot.

But if you actually look back at it, we grew a lot as people and as coaches and players that year, and it probably helped this year when we faced some adversity, and I had some of my own away from footy, as did the playing group.

Having gone through that season we did in 2022, it probably helped us.

PW: How close are you to re-signing?

AO: It’s virtually done, it’s very close. We’re just tidying a couple of things up. I’m very fortunate the club want to extend, I’m happy here with my life on and off the field is the best it’s been. I feel like I suit the town and the club suits me.