Limited-time offer ><\/a><\/p>\nThe 47-year-old, who was signed until the end of 2028, backed up reports that it was him who initiated the conversation about an early exit and revealed the results over the last month convinced him it was time. <\/p>\n
\u201cI approached the club… and I think they understood once I explained and they were probably in agreeance,\u201d O\u2019Brien said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis hasn\u2019t been a rash decision but over the last four weeks, you can tell when you\u2019re looking in your players\u2019 eyes and they\u2019ve given everything. <\/p>\n
\u201cAfter the last 20 minutes of last week and the Cowboys game I was thinking \u2018I\u2019m running out of speeches to try and keep them as energetic as I could.\u2019 <\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s been a tough year and it\u2019s taken its toll \u2014 some of that has had to do with personnel and lack of experience.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Knights haven\u2019t won a game since Round 16 with injuries to key players and instability in the spine contributing to the form slump. <\/p>\n
That has escalated the speculation around O\u2019Brien\u2019s future \u2014 something that has been lingering at different points over the last 18 months.<\/p>\n
Sitting second last with two rounds to go, O\u2019Brien sat back to reassess his position at the club and realised that his players desperately needed confidence but the headlines around him wasn\u2019t going to help them get that. <\/p>\n
\u201cAll coaches will reflect on their seasons when you get to the back end and you always start with asking yourself \u2018am I the right person to get the most out of the squad?\u2019\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor most part of the year I felt that was the case but I just felt that after the Warriors game (in Round 20), that took the gas out of the players and haven\u2019t been the same team since. <\/p>\n
\u201cThey just needed some confidence and the one thing that stood out to me was that I\u2019m a big distraction in that. <\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s no doubt that we\u2019d have to win 10-15 games straight next year for there to be no speculation and if there\u2019s one gift that I can give the playing group and the supporters that pack that stadium out every week it\u2019s to remove that distraction, it\u2019s the right thing to do.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe ultimate prize I set out to do at the start was to win a comp and if I can\u2019t do that then the way to help them now is to give them 12 months… obviously the new coach will be given time to work with the players coming and I think the club has done a great job with some of the signings. <\/p>\n
\u201cAnd with our injured group to come back, there\u2019s some quality there too so I just think it\u2019s a really important summer for them and it\u2019s the right time to give someone else a go.<\/p>\n
O\u2019Brien will finish out the season and in a clear sign of how amicable the split is, he\u2019ll even attend the club\u2019s end of season awards night.<\/p>\n
Then when the time is right he\u2019ll reflect on his six years at the helm and pinpoint where he went wrong. <\/p>\n
\u201cI didn\u2019t deliver, I fell short on what people had hoped but it wasn\u2019t through not having a passion for the joint or a lack of care \u2014 if anything I probably got in trouble a few times with that passion,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n
\u201cI got plenty wrong. There\u2019ll be time for me to reflect on things I got wrong and there\u2019s no doubt there\u2019s a heap. <\/p>\n
\u201cIn order to grow as a person, a coach and leader and mentor for young men it\u2019s important that I do acknowledge that. But I\u2019m probably not prepared to air it now. <\/p>\n
\u201cBut no doubt I got a heap wrong and let some people down, which I carry some guilt on. Hopefully they can see a guy that was really passionate about the club.\u201d<\/p>\n
Originally published as \u2018I approached the club\u2019: Adam O\u2019Brien\u2019s surprise reveal about Knights sacking<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Adam O\u2019Brien has admitted the constant speculation around his future was a \u201cbig distraction\u201d for the Knights\u2019 playing…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":101382,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[568],"tags":[7189,2095,64,63,689,73697,12732,52527,73699,13213,47915,13774,763,2105,5330,7681,72590,2623,44881,761,762,2627,4495,26504,2041,764,2067,158,677,73698,73695,668,73696,11368,72588,73694,765,69907,85,2614],"class_list":["post-101381","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nrl","tag-adam-obrien","tag-america","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-australia-and-new-zealand","tag-club-sitting","tag-dan-ginnane","tag-dave-riccio","tag-dignified-exit","tag-finals-series","tag-finals-spot","tag-football-team","tag-fox-league","tag-getty-images-inc","tag-head-coach","tag-ian-hitchcock","tag-justin-holbrook","tag-las-vegas","tag-media-opportunity","tag-national-rugby-league","tag-nationalrugbyleague","tag-nevada","tag-newcastle-knights","tag-news-corporation","tag-north-america","tag-north-queensland-cowboys","tag-northern-america","tag-nrl","tag-oceania","tag-player-media-opportunity","tag-presentation-night","tag-press-conference","tag-regular-player-media","tag-regular-season","tag-rising-stars-chasing","tag-roosters-assistant","tag-run-home","tag-seasons-end","tag-sports","tag-united-states-of-america"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/101381","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=101381"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/101381\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/101382"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=101381"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=101381"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=101381"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}