Sacking Newcastle Knights coach Adam O’Brien won’t prove a thing

The noise can be heard all along the M1 that Adam O’Brien is under pressure, but sacking the coach doesn’t fix Newcastle’s biggest problem writes David Riccio.

The hardest-working employee at the Knights isn’t a player or coach.

It’s the head of human resources.

Since 2018, there have been a staggering 41 different staff appointments, sackings, resignations, promotions and demotions at the top of the Knights — and that’s only the ones that have been broadcast by the club.

Within the massive number are the greatest players to have played the game. Premiership winners and Dally M medallists.

The list includes the best of the best from their chosen field, from high performance coaches and strength gurus. Some lasted a year or two, others not even that long.

Straight away you think of the cost.

Instead of pouring that cash into forging forward and developing the club’s proud history of juniors, it’s been used for another salary and another payout.

Imagine the crisis meetings, the never-feel-safe culture, the likelihood of water cooler back-stabbing, the emotional impact on families and the ridiculous amount of time wasted on text messages, phone calls and google searches for the next person in.

The list also doesn’t include players that have come and gone.

If rugby league’s rate of success is measured by stability at the top, the Knights have spent the past five years operating under a leadership structure gripped by ambivalence.

Eleventh, 11th, 7th, 7th and 14th is how the line-them-up and spit-them-out model has worked since 2018 in Newcastle under the Wests Group.

Newcastle Knights CEO Philip Gardner. Picture: Supplied

Philip Gardner appointed himself CEO of the Knights in May, 2017, the same year the Knights went on to claim the wooden spoon.

He replaced Matt Gidley.

Operating from arm’s length, Gardner has entrusted Peter Parr, appointed director of football in October 2022, to fix the self-inflicted mess.

Good luck to Parr. The job is bigger than what any fan could ever understand. A busted salary cap is the least of the problems.

It’s an impossible task given the rate of coaching staff changes, changes in recruitment and the need to start all over again everytime a new face comes in with a new idea, a quick-fix or view of a certain player.

Every season since the club’s lowest point of 2017 has included so many new faces and different voices, it’s any wonder the team have lost their identity.

The irony of all this is that Newcastle are back here again, contemplating change.

The head of HR has been told to keep the weekend free.

Newcastle coach Adam O'Brien is feeling the pressure. Picture: Getty Images

The noise can be heard all along the M1 that head coach Adam O’Brien will soon be receiving an email from head office. But really?

What recent history of ridiculous amounts of change in Newcastle shows that the Knights will be better off? What if — and it’s a big if, given their form — Gardner stuck to the contract he agreed upon with O’Brien until the end of 2024?

What if the Newcastle leaders showed some rare faith to resist the club’s rip-it-up and start again culture?

The 14th-placed Knights play 15th-placed Canterbury at Accor Stadium today and O’Brien wants to win for obvious reasons.

The names of coaches Michael Maguire, Josh Hannay, Paul McGregor and John Morris have all been linked to the Knights as primary targets.

Every aspiring coach wants to be an NRL coach. If there’s a job going, you’d look at it.

But Newcastle? Where the busiest person is the head of HR? No thanks.

Originally published as Sacking Newcastle Knights coach Adam O’Brien won’t prove a thing