Adam O'Brien

I thought the way he is setting up his office is quite telling. He gives a nod to McMahon for setting the culture at the club. When you talk about working hard for each other, knowing the philosophy the club was built on will help reinforce that. Bennett never got Newcastle, if Obi sees what the club once stood for and had success from than all the better. Reilly was the one who harnessed that better then anyone. Hagan, the premiership winner, ok. Not much more to hang his hat on unfortunately.

Then he gives Kaylan Ponga, along with Connor and Tex the chance to play a part in decorating his office. Those boys seem to be forming a really close bond btw. Interesting to see how it plays out because they are all competing for similar positions really. Anyway, to focus on Kaylan, I see this as very interesting. As things stand right now, he could be a vital plank in anything Obi achieves here, or he could be gone in a year or two. Obi needs to impress him quickly and get him to buy in to how he wants to go about things. So first up, he builds report by taking a keen interest in Kaylan's hobby away from football and recognises his talent there. Then he gets Kaylan to use that talent to really think about the town, it's uniqueness and what it has to offer. I don't think Kaylan will take this task lightly. To impress the coach with something he loves outside footy will mean a lot to him. And he will be reminded of it every time he walks in to Obi's office. This wasn't done on a whim by Obi.

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O'Brien will have a mostly unchanged side to start the season if he wants to go that way, but it will probably take half a season to bring in changes to the style of play.
In short, round one should see a fitter and more motivated version of the side Brown built, and from then on any improvements we see are down to tweaks that O'Brien is making.

He could make dramatic changes for round one, but I think that would be a mistake. He should practice a lot of new things in the off season, and gradually introduce them during the season.
 
O'Brien will have a mostly unchanged side to start the season if he wants to go that way, but it will probably take half a season to bring in changes to the style of play.
In short, round one should see a fitter and more motivated version of the side Brown built, and from then on any improvements we see are down to tweaks that O'Brien is making.

He could make dramatic changes for round one, but I think that would be a mistake. He should practice a lot of new things in the off season, and gradually introduce them during the season.
I agree. We have a new hooker and he has to sort out his 5/8 and where people fit into the three quarters. Otherwise, the engine room and the Pearce/Ponga combination from last year should remain in tact. I think the biggest thing fans will notice round 1 is a stripped down, more mobile pack.

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I agree. We have a new hooker and he has to sort out his 5/8 and where people fit into the three quarters. Otherwise, the engine room and the Pearce/Ponga combination from last year should remain in tact. I think the biggest thing fans will notice round 1 is a stripped down, more mobile pack.

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Ponga and the team tended to favour the left edge a lot last year. I could see this changing a bit next year with a bit more even distribution of the ball to both sides.
 
He’ll fit in well at Newcastle not being born with a silver spoon in his mouth unlike the clowns in the Sydney media who were talking **** about the Knights and have no clue what goes on up here.
A nice read into his character indeed
 
He is clearly a great student of the game who knows things about the Knights that very few people know.
One of the first things he did was contact Allan Bell, who was the assistant coach who worked with the Johns brothers to develop modern halves play, and has also been a career long mentor for Mitchell Pearce.
He also signed Brodie Jones for another year and told him he was wanted at the club. Brown used Jones as a crash test dummy for the last few off seasons and never seems to have realised what a talented kid he is, but O'Brien knew how much potential he showed through the juniors.
Actually, he has brought in 3 or 4 young guys now who seem to be very talented but under appreciated players, so he must have a very wide knowledge of all the young prospects going around.
He must live footy 24/7 to know all that obscure stuff.
I always got the impression that Bennett wouldn't be able to name half of reserve grade and Brown only had a bit of an idea about any of our juniors, but this guy seems to know about players everywhere.
 
He is clearly a great student of the game who knows things about the Knights that very few people know.
One of the first things he did was contact Allan Bell, who was the assistant coach who worked with the Johns brothers to develop modern halves play, and has also been a career long mentor for Mitchell Pearce.
He also signed Brodie Jones for another year and told him he was wanted at the club. Brown used Jones as a crash test dummy for the last few off seasons and never seems to have realised what a talented kid he is, but O'Brien knew how much potential he showed through the juniors.
Actually, he has brought in 3 or 4 young guys now who seem to be very talented but under appreciated players, so he must have a very wide knowledge of all the young prospects going around.
He must live footy 24/7 to know all that obscure stuff.
I always got the impression that Bennett wouldn't be able to name half of reserve grade and Brown only had a bit of an idea about any of our juniors, but this guy seems to know about players everywhere.
Seeing what Naden has done at Penrith makes me wonder what Brown was thinking

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I always got the impression that Bennett wouldn't be able to name half of reserve grade and Brown only had a bit of an idea about any of our juniors, but this guy seems to know about players everywhere.

Bennett only gets bought in to win premiereships so it would make sense he wouldn’t know players outside the top 24.
 
On paper we have a weaker squad than this time last year, having lost a massive amount of firstgrade experience with SKD, Levi, Griffin, Buhrer, Gavet, Ramien, Ross and Sam Stone, and replacing them with Brailey and kids like Best, Toa, Crossland, Enari, Jones, Hoy and Fermor - but once you factor in a steady improvement for all our players under 25 - which is most of the squad - we should at least measure up to where we were last year.
 
We are going to miss Skd's yards out of our own end most of all. An important part of the game. I'm not entirely sure where those early tackle metres will.come from.

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We are going to miss Skd's yards out of our own end most of all. An important part of the game. I'm not entirely sure where those early tackle metres will.come from.

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Will probably need to rely on enthusiasm of fringe guys like Toa fighting to lock down a spot to bring the ball back with intensity.

Best would be an interesting kick-return option as well, although not likely if he's playing at centre.
 
We are going to miss Skd's yards out of our own end most of all. An important part of the game. I'm not entirely sure where those early tackle metres will.come from.

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SKD was good last year but definitely not a shade of what he was even the year before and would have been found out for all money in 2020.
 
SKD was good last year but definitely not a shade of what he was even the year before and would have been found out for all money in 2020.
Yep, not sayin' they shoulda kept him, just sayin' his yardage needs to be replaced. Going to England was the best result for us and him.

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The Canberra game at the weekend is the most complete performance I can remember in recent years, surpassing the Roosters game last year when the opposition had some excuses. Canberra are the premiership favourites and had no excuses at the weekend. It came a week after the most courageous performance I think the club has ever put in. I thought this was a great time to pay tribute to Adam O'Brien and list where I see the improvement in the team in the posts below.

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