{"id":128435,"date":"2025-09-08T19:35:17","date_gmt":"2025-09-08T19:35:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/128435\/"},"modified":"2025-09-08T19:35:17","modified_gmt":"2025-09-08T19:35:17","slug":"michael-cheika-in-running-to-coach-newcastle-knights-candidates-adam-obrien-replacements-round-27","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/128435\/","title":{"rendered":"Michael Cheika in running to coach Newcastle Knights, candidates, Adam O\u2019Brien replacements, Round 27"},"content":{"rendered":"

Former Wallabies coach Michael Cheika is reportedly in the running to replace outgoing Knights coach Adam O\u2019Brien in 2026 after joining a hit list of potential targets. <\/p>\n

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The Sydney Morning Herald<\/a> reported Cheika is on a short list of potential candidates the Knights have devised in their search for a new coach after O\u2019Brien and the club mutually agreed to part ways at the end of the season. <\/p>\n

O\u2019Brien will coach his 145th and final game at the Knights against the Eels on Sunday, while the club continues to search for his successor in time for pre-season in November. <\/p>\n

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The club tasked chairman Geoff Coburn, board member Tony Price, incoming chief executive Peter Parr, incoming director of football Chris James and former premiership-winning coach Michael Hagan with finding O\u2019Brien\u2019s successor. <\/p>\n

The Knights have reportedly reached out to Cheika to gauge his interest in coming on board as the new coach, with a formal interview the next stage if he is keen on the role. <\/p>\n

Given two candidates to replace O\u2019Brien, Leeds coach Brad Arthur and Hull KR mentor Willie Peters are busy vying for a premiership in the Super League, Cheika is likely to get an interview. <\/p>\n

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Michael Cheika is expected to get an interview with the Knights.Source: Getty Images<\/p>\n

Cheika is likely to join a list of candidates including Roosters assistant and former Titans coach Justin Holbrook, Knights assistant Blake Green, Dragons assistant Dean Young, former Sharks coach and Tigers assistant John Morris and former Dragons coach Paul McGregor.<\/p>\n

Cheika has shown interest in coaching in the NRL in the past and recently finished a stint at rugby club Leicester.<\/p>\n

Cheika is still committed to coaching Lebanon at the next Rugby League World Cup and the 58-year-old has been backed by Immortal and Knights legend Andrew Johns.<\/p>\n

\u201cI would love to see you as a head coach \u2013 I think you\u2019d nail it \u2013 but in the right group with the right support staff in the front office and people around you,\u201d Johns told Cheika on Channel 9\u2019s Freddy and The Eighth.<\/p>\n

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Cheika is open to the idea of becoming the first NRL coach to come from a rugby union background. <\/p>\n

\u201cI think that challenge, if you think about it, hasn\u2019t really been met,\u201d Cheika said. <\/p>\n

\u201cAlan Jones had a crack at it way back. It hasn\u2019t been done with success. Many league coaches have come over to rugby and been successful there \u2013 maybe not as head coaches, although I think they could.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo master that challenge, especially being an Aussie kid where league is such a big sport and I grew up playing the sport, I think it would be a huge challenge. I\u2019ve been back here now for maybe six weeks or so, getting my feet on the ground and deciding what I\u2019m gonna get up to next.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Cheika believes he could make an impact with rugby league players if given the opportunity. <\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019d push them to whatever\u2019s required to win, because that\u2019s the objective,\u201d he said during the week.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019re gonna be talking to a dressing room of 30-odd people and there could be seven or eight different personality traits in there. You\u2019ve got to try and code your messages so that they all understand in the different ways people think.<\/p>\n

\u201cSometimes you\u2019ve got to go hard and sometimes you\u2019ve got to give a cuddle \u2013 but at all costs, they are your team.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Former Wallabies coach Michael Cheika is reportedly in the running to replace outgoing Knights coach Adam O\u2019Brien in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":128436,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[568],"tags":[64,63,761,762,158,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-128435","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nrl","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-national-rugby-league","11":"tag-nationalrugbyleague","12":"tag-nrl","13":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/128435","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=128435"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/128435\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/128436"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=128435"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=128435"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=128435"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}