Newcastle Knights making the hard calls needed to go from good to great
Recruitment guru Peter O’Sullivan has delivered a thundering response to recent criticism of the Newcastle Knights’ roster management in an explosive interview on the club’s salary cap mess.
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Recruitment guru Peter O’Sullivan - the man who built grand final-winning rosters at Melbourne Storm and the Sydney Roosters, then assembled the Dolphins squad for their NRL debut - talks to PHIL ROTHFIELD about what has gone wrong at the Newcastle Knights, and how the club is going about rectifying past mistakes.
O’Sullivan opens up about:
“We’re in this position now because of previous poorly written contracts and ratchet clauses,” O’Sullivan said.
“We need to change our roster to fix it. We’ve been making the eight and being competitive but we need to get into a position to win a title. That’s our obligation to our fans.
“We’re not going to be satisfied just making the semis each year.”
THOSE BRAILEY RUMOURS
Buzz: What about Jayden Brailey being moved on and dropped from the leadership group?
O’Sullivan: Last year they (the media) were giving it to us because we had too many people in the leadership group. And we did, so we reduced it. The players then chose four leaders - Kalyn, Tyson Frizell, Jacob Saifiti and Dane Gagai.
Brails didn’t have a problem with it. He said to Adam, ‘I don’t have to be in the leadership group to be a leader.’ He was really upset about rumours and innuendo that he wanted to leave now. It’s not factual. Brails is a great kid.
Buzz: Well, why are you letting him go?
O’Sullivan: You can’t have $1.6 million in your cap on two hookers on first grade money. Not in a properly balanced roster and salary cap. We’ve also got Phoenix Crossland. And Matty Arthur from Parramatta is next in line. You should have one hooker and a back-up. Phoenix is not off contract and Brails is. He’s a great boy and very popular. But we can’t keep them all. Simple as that.
Buzz: And Leo Thompson, a big loss to the Bulldogs. What happened there?
O’Sullivan: Leo was disenchanted by previous people at this club who told him lies before we got here. That’s on the record too. He was told he was getting upgrades and they didn’t eventuate. He was filthy. He’s been carrying that disappointment for a couple of years.
It was the tipping point. We didn’t want Leo to go but I couldn’t control what had previously happened. I found the money for him but he had too much bitterness from the past. No one is irreplaceable and we’ll replace him. It gives us a chance to restructure the roster and put money into the right positions.
Buzz: Fair enough, what about Daniel Saifiti?
O’Sullivan: Another great guy who we didn’t want to let him go. At the end of the day we were $400,000 over the salary cap and couldn’t register contracts. Someone had to go. When that happens, you’ve got to lose a good player that other clubs want, not necessarily a middle range player who they mightn’t want. That’s just a reality.
Buzz: And what about the good young prop Sebastian Sua, who has gone to the Dolphins?
O’Sullivan: He’s had one game as an 18th man and the offer he got from the Dolphins we couldn’t have even thought about matching it. We’ve got another very good young forward coming here. I can’t announce it yet but he’s a very good player.
A VOTE OF NO CONFIDENCE?
Buzz: People have said it’s a bit of a vote of no confidence in Adam O’Brien that these guys are leaving. What do you say to that?
O’Sullivan: Adam O’Brien has been involved in four premiership-winning teams at Melbourne Storm and the Roosters. I’ve seen him coach day in and day out. He knows what winning looks like. You saw how the players played for him at the back end of last year. Trust me, he can coach. He has got a three-year contract. There are no clauses in it.
Look at the improvement in all the players. Kalyn the last couple of years, Bradman Best has gone to an elite Origin player. Fletcher Sharpe from Jersey Flegg to a star.
Buzz: Jackson Hastings is on a lot of money to play reserve grade.
O’Sullivan: Well, that’s every club’s and every coach’s prerogative. We need to get to where we want to get to. That’s clear. So much of the footy team is based around the halves. Jackson has been good for the club, but right now, in the mechanics of the team, we need to change the halves to get to where we want to. It is what it is.
BROWN CHASE, KEEPING PONGA
Buzz: How important is Dylan Brown to you?
O’Sullivan: If he’s serious about leaving we’d love to have him here and he’d change our footy team. If Dylan is here, we go from a top eight team to a genuine hope of winning a comp. That’s how highly I rate him. I’ve been trying to sign him since he was 17 when I worked for the Warriors. He’s a marvellous player and a marvellous kid. We’ll see what happens.
Buzz: There’s always rumours that your superstar fullback and captain Kalyn Ponga will go to the Roosters to eventually replace James Tedesco.
O’Sullivan: We want him here for life. We haven’t spoken about extending beyond 2027 because I want to get the roster into shape first. There’s no rush. Right now he might hesitate and want to see where we are heading. And that’s fair enough. He’s spoken about his dream of winning a title here and we’ve got to build the right squad to achieve that. Kalyn loves it here. The lifestyle suits him, his mum and dad are here, he lives 100 metres from the beach and I think he’s happy here.
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