Following the Knights’ big upset victory over the Storm on Saturday evening, Adam O’Brien’s revitalised perspective on teaching has been revealed within the wake of hypothesis surrounding his future.
Newcastle pulled off a 26-18 victory to seal their third victory in a row in Round 21, leaving the Hunter membership inside two wins of the highest eight with six video games remaining.
Veteran rugby league reporter Phil Rothfield revealed the tragic lack of his mum Maree in April has helped O’Brien deal with a troublesome interval.
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In current weeks rumours have reportedly swirled that Knights powerbrokers had mentioned the potential of taking on as head coach with 4 candidates.
That transfer would have seen O’Brien ousted from his place, with the drums beating for his sacking on the back-end of the 2022 NRL season.
Following three robust wins, together with a 66-0 flogging of the Bulldogs, Rothfield questioned why O’Brien didn’t have the backing of membership figures.
“That was one of my favourite games of the year to look at Newcastle like that… weren’t they pumped,” Rothfield stated on the Big Sports Breakfast.
“The reason I spoke to Adam O’Brien was because last week there was a rumour that Des Hasler knocked back the Knights before taking on the Titans job.
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“The week before Michael Maguire had, Paul McGregor, and Peter Peters said on air yesterday that John Morris has been approached.
“If there’s any truth to it, why aren’t the Knights supporting him better?
“So I rang him and it was a really lovely interview… because it was his late mum’s birthday yesterday and he had this feel in his voice that his mum would have been really proud of that win and the way he has rallied the troops in the last few weeks.
“He said the tragic passing of his mum three months ago has taught him to deal with the less important issues of life.
“Rugby league is a business, but he has learnt to cope with the week in, week out speculation because what he has been through earlier this year, he was really brave.
“I was so happy for him and I hope these rumours are wrong.
Rothfield also outlined how dire the situation was when O’Brien arrived in Newcastle ahead of the 2020 NRL season.
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The Knights had won the wooden spoon from 2015 to 2017 before improving to 11th place in both 2018 and 2019.
But as soon as he arrived, O’Brien lifted the Knights in to the top eight and has a surprisingly good strike rate in qualifying for finals.
“He got to that club, they won three wooden spoons in five years, finished 11th twice leading into getting there,” Rothfield stated.
“If he can drag them into the finals this year, which is possible, that is three out of four years.
“I don’t even know why we are discussing it, he was under pressure at the start of the year but I think he’s just about done enough to hang on to that job.”
Newcastle’s probabilities of making the finals in 2023 are slim, but when they’ll ship related performances to that in opposition to the Storm — they might proceed their streak.
The Knights face the Raiders, Dolphins and Bulldogs earlier than a troublesome run house in opposition to the Rabbitohs, Sharks and eventually the Dragons.
Source web site: www.foxsports.com.au
