The Knights’ coaching job shapes up as being one of the toughest gigs in the NRL according to club great Matty Johns, who has thrown up a couple of left field choices — including top NRLW coach John Strange.
The job will be vacated after Newcastle’s Round 27 clash against the Eels, which will be coach Adam O’Brien’s final match at the helm.
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O’Brien and the Knights have decided to mutually split, with a brand new coach set to lead the way in Newcastle from next season.
As it stands, former Titans coach Justin Holbrook is the favourite while Knights assistant Blake Green and Hull KR coach Willie Peters are also in the running.
Given the Knights are in a battle for the wooden spoon this season – a fall from grace after making the finals in 2024 – something had to give.
It did. O’Brien is leaving, but it’s going to be an almighty effort and likely plenty of time from whoever takes over to get the Knights back into top eight and premiership contention.
Former Knights premiership player Matty Johns believes there’s certain questions the successful candidate must be able to answer given the issues currently facing Newcastle.
“It’s a huge job from the bottom up. This needs a lot of work,” Johns said on Matty and Cronk.
“The questions you have to ask are applicable to the problems that are going to rise the next year, so for Newcastle, the obvious one is, ‘we have Fletcher Sharpe, Kalyn Ponga and Dylan Brown. How are we going to solve that puzzle?’
“Secondly, we’re short on middle forwards. What style of football are we going to play to allow us to get away with that?”
“From my opinion, you’d have to do some very good research because there’s some gaps in their program from the top all the way through,” multiple premiership winning halfback Cooper Cronk added.
“That includes the roster and playing ability. You’d have to be supremely confident you can turn that around because there is a lot of work to do.
“It is a big job.”
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Johns doesn’t have a preference of who should coach his former club, but threw up two left field names that Newcastle should at least get in the building for an interview.
“These two guys might not be the right guys for the Knights, but you bring them in and you interview them. One is Michael Cheika (former Wallabies coach) and the other one is John Strange,” Johns said.
“Strange coaches the Roosters NRLW side. I watch the way they play. They’re highly skilled, they’re great in attack.
“I’ve heard him talk and you can see he’s a brilliant coach. He’s a very good man manager and you know what? He’s worth a chat.”
Strange, who is also the father of Raiders star Ethan, has guided the Roosters’ NRLW side to two premierships in 2021 and 2024. He would be the only coach in history to go from coaching an NRLW side to an NRL team; though Steve Georgallis and Rick Stone has done both roles in the reverse order.
Another key factor in choosing the club’s next head coach is determining what their role in the Knights’ pathways will be.
Johns says it’s crucial the coach is heavily involved in both pathways and recruitment as it sends the right message to any prospective target.
“In my opinion, a head coach in the NRL has to have their fingers on the pathways because you have to have presence and you have to be able to educate the players and to be able to attract players,” Johns said.
“If you want to sign a young player, a kid right out of school, if you really want him to come to your club, then you send the head coach.”
On-field results have been mixed for Newcastle of late.
They have made the finals in three of the past five seasons, but could only manage one post-season win across those five years.
What’s made it hard for the Knights have been their recent inability to record a win at the recruiting table, especially at halfback, as journalist David Riccio explained on NRL360.
“I would argue that ever since Mitch Pearce moved on, the Knights have never been able to recover with a key half to run that team,” Riccio said.
“I’m talking about the likes of Anthony Milford, Adam Clune, Jake Clifford, Jackson Hastings Tyson Gamble, the list goes on with this revolving door of halves.
Anthony Milford has been one of several recruiting failures by the Knights over the past three to four seasons.Source: Getty Images
“Coupled with that is the departure of Mitch Barnett, Kurt Mann and Daniel Saifiti. Key figures who have kicked goals at rival clubs.
“That’s another factor in Adam’s departure that the club have realised that we haven’t been able to nail our recruitment.”
What’s more is that the Knights are set to pay 2026 recruit Dylan Brown and star fullback Kalyn Ponga around $2.5 million combined next season.
That has left the club short on quality forwards which will compound when Leo Thompson departs for the Bulldogs.