Ricky\u2019s take on thumping, reply to Broncos question<\/a><\/p>\nWhen asked to reflect on his six season at Newcastle, O\u2019Brien replied: \u201cIn time I\u2019ll definitely do that but right now I can\u2019t stop feeling about that game.\u201d<\/p>\n
It\u2019s been a nightmare past couple of months for the Knights and their loyal fans. <\/p>\n
The club lost nine straight games to end the season, dropping from 13th to 17th.<\/p>\n
They weren\u2019t just losing though. They were getting thumped. <\/p>\n
Their previous six losses have been by at least 20 points or more. During that span, their points differential was an eye-watering -210. <\/p>\n
That\u2019s an average losing margin of 35 points a game.<\/p>\n
Knights skipper Dane Gagai said the last two months have been \u201cextremely tough\u201d.<\/p>\n
What disappointed him most though was the lack of a send off for the departing players, particularly hooker Jayden Brailey.<\/p>\n
Brailey, who played just 83 games for the Knights across six injury-ravaged seasons at the club, is departing for Canberra in the off-season. <\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m disappointed. That\u2019s been our season. We weren\u2019t there from the start \u2026 It\u2019s just disappointing,\u201d Gagai said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe fans didn\u2019t deserve that but one for me is Jayden Brailey. I know we have a few players leaving us but for a bloke who put so much time and effort in, especially in rehab with numerous injuries, to send him off like that is disappointing.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt hurts.\u201d<\/p>\n
SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA – SEPTEMBER 07: Knights look on after an Eels conversion during the round 27 NRL match between Parramatta Eels and Newcastle Knights at CommBank Stadium, on September 07, 2025, in Sydney, Australia. (Photo by Mark Evans\/Getty Images)Source: Getty Images<\/p>\n
Since news of O\u2019Brien\u2019s exit was confirmed a couple of weeks ago, there have been several names that have been tossed up as potential replacements. <\/p>\n
Former Titans coach Justin Holbrook, Knights assistant Blake Green and even ex-Wallabies mentor Michael Cheika are reportedly on a six-man shortlist.<\/p>\n
O\u2019Brien was asked \u201cwhat type of coach\u201d will be needed at the Knights going forward. Instead of waving the question away, he provided decent insight into what could work best for the club. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s obviously the club\u2019s decision but what I\u2019m mindful of is that there is a bit of change in a number of departments, whether it\u2019s our medical or high performance area,\u201d O\u2019Brien said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s an opportunity for some fresh voices and a clean slate but you don\u2019t want too much as well because there is some good work going on in the pathways and the development of our younger blokes. We don\u2019t want to lose too much of that. <\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t really want to name names because it\u2019s none of my business now. It\u2019s a club decision.\u201d <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Knights coach Adam O\u2019Brien says now isn\u2019t the time to look back on his up-and-down six year reign…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":125627,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[7189,64,63,18392,88015,4424,11096,88018,4603,72590,10749,44362,55831,4495,9112,88017,88016,10383,4873,668,30384,85,11103],"class_list":["post-125626","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-adam-obrien","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-blake-green","tag-club-decision","tag-dane-gagai","tag-daniel-nuttall","tag-ex-wallabies-mentor","tag-final-game","tag-justin-holbrook","tag-knights-coach","tag-knights-skipper","tag-michael-cheika","tag-newcastle-knights","tag-parramatta-eels","tag-performance-area","tag-players-leaving","tag-points-differential","tag-post-match-press-conference","tag-press-conference","tag-rugby-league-news","tag-sports","tag-wooden-spoon"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/125626","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=125626"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/125626\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/125627"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=125626"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=125626"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=125626"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}