Incoming Newcastle chief executive Peter Parr: Kalyn Ponga, coach Adam O’Brien futures, chasing titles

Newcastle’s soon-to-be chief executive Peter Parr has a message for those questioning the future of Kalyn Ponga and Adam O’Brien at the Knights, while insisting the club is not far from being in the premiership mix.

Incoming Newcastle chief executive Peter Parr has a message for those who continue to question whether Kalyn Ponga’s social media pledge to honour his contract is a secure commitment to the club.

“It doesn’t matter whether it is two paragraphs, two pages or two lines — it’s the same result,’ Parr said.

“What else can the kid do? What does he have to do? I don’t have any doubt (he is committed).

“I had no doubt before all the speculation and I have no doubt since the speculation.”

Talk over Ponga’s future, and that of coach Adam O’Brien, have been all the rage at Newcastle in recent weeks amid an alarming injury toll and run of losses.

Their respective careers are about to be in Parr’s hands. Their club’s head of football will officially start as chief executive on November 1 as he takes over from Phil Gardiner and sets his sights on leading the club to a premiership.

Incoming Newcastle chief executive Peter Parr. Picture: NRL Imagery

“I get it — we have only won six games this year,” Parr said.

“That is always going to attract attention in a negative way. I think sometimes people forget how difficult the industry is and how difficult it is to come from where we are and try and get us to the top end.

“But I don’t think success for this club is as far off as people think it is.”

PONGA’S FUTURE

Ponga is the Knights’ highest-paid and highest-profile player, but his future has been in the news in recent weeks amid talk that he was eyeing off a switch of codes.

This masthead reported that Ponga’s name had appeared on the radar of European rugby union clubs as well as breakaway competition R360 – it is understood a New Zealand agent was sourcing interest in the Newcastle captain.

Kalyn Ponga made his commitment to the Knights clear amid speculation of a rugby raid. Picture: Scott Gardiner/Getty Images

Parr met Ponga in an attempt to gain some clarity around the reports and whatever he said, it seemed to have the desired effect as the club’s talisman posted his commitment to the Knights on social media, vowing to honour his contract.

That means Ponga will remain with the Knights until at least the end of 2027 – the club has no immediate plans to sit down to discuss an extension given their star No.1 has been sidelined for the second season in succession with a Lisfranc injury to his foot.

The Knights and Ponga have time on their side – he can’t speak to rival clubs until November 1 next year.

“I don’t think that we’d be starting those talks in the short term,” Parr said.

“I think we’ll wait to play some football next year.”

COACHING CAPERS

As frenzied as the speculation was around Ponga, it was just as prolific around the coach. O’Brien has two more years remaining on his deal with the club but there has been talk that he could be sacked at the end of the season unless results improve in coming weeks.

O’Brien has plenty of credit in the bank after leading the Knights to the finals in four of his five seasons in charge, but that doesn’t guarantee survival in the cutthroat world of the NRL.

Newcastle Knights coach Adam O'Brien faces an uncertain future. Picture: NRL Photos

Parr, who is will have a decisive say over the coaching situation when he steps into the chief executive role, insists he is unaware of any talk over O’Brien’s future.

“As far as I’m aware, he’s going to be the coach for the foreseeable future,” Parr said.

“Nobody above me has discussed Adam not being at the club. But I also understand there’s always conversations in and around footy clubs when you’re not travelling well and we have only won a third of our games.

“So I understand that different people would be talking about the team, the coach, the players.

“Sometimes what happens there is people put their own spin on it or add their own GST, and it doesn’t take much to turn it into a story.

“But as far as I am aware, there has been no discussion about Adam’s future.”

CHASING TITLES

The Knights have now gone 24 years without a title but Parr insists the club isn’t far off being in the mix.

This season has been decimated to a large extent by injury but the arrival of Dylan Brown next season on a deal believed to be worth in excess of $13 million was a show of ambition by the Knights.

Dylan Brown is Newcastle bound in 2026. Picture: NewsWire / John Appleyard

The next step is to turn that ambition into a premiership and Parr insists it isn’t as far as away as some may think.

“We haven’t won an NRL premiership since 2001,” Parr said.

“Since then, the average position of the Newcastle Knights has been 10th. So what we’re trying to do here is put some processes in place and put the plans in place and take a longer term strategy where we can actually elevate the club from running mid-table regularly, up to the top end of the ladder.

“It’s actually very difficult. I wouldn’t have accepted the position if I didn’t think the club had a positive future.

“I am well aware of what work has been done in the background. That hasn’t come to fruition yet.

“It was always going to be a situation where we had to play the long game to get the club to where we wanted to be. I’m really confident that the club has a really good future.”

Originally published as Incoming Newcastle chief executive Peter Parr: Kalyn Ponga, coach Adam O’Brien futures, chasing titles