A number of former players at NRL club Newcastle Knights are reportedly pushing for a former Leeds Rhinos man to be appointed as the club’s new head coach.
Newcastle made the decision to axe head coach Adam O’Brien and the scramble for who will replace him has already started with a lot of familiar names in the reckoning.
Former Super League-winning coach Justin Holbrook is among the candidates whilst Newcastle Knights legend Matty Johns has tipped Hull KR head coach Willie Peters, formerly an assistant with the Knights, to take the top job.
Peters and Holbrook aren’t the only men with Super League experience in the running as Newcastle’s two current assistants have both spend time in England, with one of those being English.
Blake Green and Brian McDermott are the assistant coaches at the NRL club and whilst there’s talk about both men ascending to the head coach role, reports have emerged that the higher-ups at the Knights much prefer the ex-Leeds Rhinos head coach for the role.
Brian McDermott touted for NRL head coaching job
Brian McDermott had an excellent record with Leeds Rhinos and has spent a lot of time Down Under since exiting Featherstone Rovers, serving as an assistant with New Zealand Warriors and now Newcastle Knights.
According to a number of Newcastle Knights’ ‘old boys’ who have spoken to The Daily Telegraph, some under the condition of anonymity, the consensus is that McDermott is the stronger candidate to Green.
Green has yet to serve as a head coach in the NRL and is still only 38. The playmaker ended his career with Newcastle but played for Hull KR and Wigan Warriors from 2011 through 2014, being crowed as Man of the Match in the 2013 Grand Final.
He was appointed as coach for the Knights’ NRLW side but didn’t take charge of a game due to the delayed season and then being appointed to the NRL club’s coaching set-up.
Despite spending more time with the Knights than McDermott who joined in 2023, the feeling among the club’s ‘old boys’ is that he’s not ready with one labelling him as not ‘the right fit’, and another calling him ‘unproven’.
Marc Glanville, who played 189 games for Newcastle, backed McDermott: “I reckon he would be terrific for Newcastle. He is currently an assistant here with the Knights and he coached Leeds in England.
“We were successful with Mal Reilly so why not? Brian is in the system here for a couple of years and knows the players.
“I played against Brian when I went to England. He was a tough bugger. He was also a good coach and very successful at Leeds, where he won a couple of comps and Challenge Cups. He also played for England and was in the Marines, the Special Forces as well.”
More Mal Reilly comments were made by Jarrod Mullen, a veteran of 211 games for Newcastle, as he said: “I’ve heard great things about McDermott.
“He would bring that steel defensively. That’s what the club has been built on – toughness. I have never met McDermott but he has been an assistant for a while.
“It would be a throwback to Mal Reilly. He was so well respected by the Johns boys. Mal was there when the Knights were at their best and players fought until the end.”
