mudmarn
Willie Mason
Just before all the rubbish went down and Brown left we looked like making the finals that year. When AOB got here the team he had was 10 times better the what Brown started with..
Sack Adam O’Brien
- Thread starter HarVeeGee13
- Start date
HarVeeGee13
Danny 'Bedsy' Buderus
For years now the Raiders have had an attack which relies totally on chaos & random ******** (just pushing up in support around offloads or getting more players around the ball on kick chases than everyone else), and a halfback who I didn’t rate because he seemed to have no ball-playing game and their shapes were always very poorly organised. This year besides Melbourne they’re the slickest attacking team in the competition, they throw a variety of dangerous shape at their opposition, and said halfback seems to have discovered his passing mojo and is putting players into space as well as all but that very top echelon of ball player. Likewise the Roosters got into a serious attacking rut for a couple of seasons a couple of years back and have only gotten out of it over 2024-25. So who the **** knows, there is precedent for a team with **** clunky attack suddenly turning a corner. Maybe the thinking is, under AOB this team puts in defensively to a degree which has never been a feature of Knights footy before that, the club doesn’t want to lose that, and they’re going to give him the chance to prove he can change his ways re: the constricting, rigid game plans.
The Knights are very very conservative with this stuff & if there’s stuff they can blame for bad form (injuries, cap restructure) and stuff they can point to that shows the wisdom of changing nothing eg the aforementioned attacking form turnarounds, they’ll take it I guess.
The Knights are very very conservative with this stuff & if there’s stuff they can blame for bad form (injuries, cap restructure) and stuff they can point to that shows the wisdom of changing nothing eg the aforementioned attacking form turnarounds, they’ll take it I guess.
Junior
Bill Peden
Luck go his way?!?!
We have been anything but lucky in AOB's tenure, Brailey our starting 9 has averaged 13 games a season, Elliott bought to play 13 has averaged 16 games a season, KP hasn't been much better and was quite close to retiring. We lost our only decent 7 since Joey in Pearce a year earlier than expected, Best also riddled with injuries and yes this happens at other clubs but **** me its far from luck going his way, include a couple recruitment blunders (front office to blame) and the constant overseeing of Gardner at CEO, his job would be fkn hard.
Recency bias has got a lot of people blinded, yes we've had a **** year but overall his time at the club has been above average IMO. For 4 of his 6 years there's 8-12 clubs below us who would die to be in our spot.
Does he have the ability to take us to that next level of being a regular top 8 team or higher??? Who knows maybe that's his ceiling but to say he has had luck go his way and to want him sacked for not being able to coach is quite a silly way of seeing his time here imo
Grandpa Joe
Danny 'Bedsy' Buderus
That is every club every where mate, you'd swear every NRL comp had already one the trophy in November lol
Grandpa Joe
Danny 'Bedsy' Buderus
Identical to O'Briens record almost.........
mudmarn
Willie Mason
If it wasnt for that 10 game winning streak in 2023 and every other team falling over in front of us like a Bradbury moment the year after we would be 2 from 6 making finals.
Its my opinion that he isnt close to being a head coach. You obviously see it different. Fair enough...
Have to disagree here, we’d won 9 from 22 in Brown’s final season when he was sacked, and were sitting 11th, three points out of the 8 with two rounds remaining. Virtually impossible to make it from there, unless the three sides ahead of you lose both their remaining games (they didn’t, and the cut off was above where we could have finished).
Just looking back at 2020 for that info I posted above, it reminded me that even that season we had the great hooker injury crisis, which resulted in us signing Andrew McCullough mid-season. He looked great for us for two months, and then tore his hamstring off the bone!
waynesworld
Nathan Barnes
2/6 is still better than 0/4 and you’re removing the best 2-3 month run the club has enjoyed since Joey retired.
mudmarn
Willie Mason
Junior
Bill Peden
The same year that seen us having to bring in Blake Green (9 games in 2 seasons), Milford Brough in mid year win 2022 for 13 games, McCullough was here in 2020 for 8 games, Clifford was also a blunder signing getting 25 games in two years, add in miller with 12 games in 2023, and Clune coming in as a backup half for Pearce and instead getting the main job for parts of year 22-23.
Haven't had much luck when ya look at all them signings in key positions in his 6 year tenure
Adam O’Brien has his critics, but he’s achieved plenty since taking over in 2020. He ended a seven-year finals drought in his first season, delivered back-to-back top-eight finishes for the first time since 2003, and in 2023 guided the Knights to a 10-game winning streak and fifth place. Even in 2024, he took the team from 15th after seven rounds into the finals. Four finals appearances in five full seasons isn’t luck – it’s proof he can keep the Knights competitive, even in a tough year like this one. I dont know where all the hate comes from but it is obvious to have clouded some judgements in this forum.
frankLauda
Matthew Johns
It’s not hate. It’s criticism. Like most things in life situations are not black and white. There things he’s done that are good, and things he’s done we as fans criticise.
To win a premiership needs so many right things in place. Panthers have figured that out. To me it’s crazy a “footy mad” town like Newcastle has had limited success over the years. And you can safely say a lot of that is due to poor decisions of the board/front of house.
It went completely pair shaped during the spoon years. But I can honestly say I see us building to towards being a successful development club. We are close.
You’d have to hope and lay faith in Peter Parr, Bedsy, etc, and now POS to make the right decisions on weather AOB is the man to take us to the promise land. I have more faith in these guys then past administration.
We should not be a club that thinks mediocre. We should be a club that expects high standards.
To win a premiership needs so many right things in place. Panthers have figured that out. To me it’s crazy a “footy mad” town like Newcastle has had limited success over the years. And you can safely say a lot of that is due to poor decisions of the board/front of house.
It went completely pair shaped during the spoon years. But I can honestly say I see us building to towards being a successful development club. We are close.
You’d have to hope and lay faith in Peter Parr, Bedsy, etc, and now POS to make the right decisions on weather AOB is the man to take us to the promise land. I have more faith in these guys then past administration.
We should not be a club that thinks mediocre. We should be a club that expects high standards.
Les Misérables
Mark Hughes
Have you bothered to check regular season results?
If OB could have us competing like the Sharks, Id back him in as our coach until 2080.
OB is not that guy
Tackleslikeagirl
Brett Grogan
Regular season results don’t mean a lot after the last round when your bundled out of finals quick smart.
Kurriboy
Danny 'Bedsy' Buderus
Regular season results are what places you in the top 4 so you don't get bundled out first round.
If you can't perform well over the regular season you have no business in the 8. The 8 itself is a joke really with 7th and 8th no chance and don't deserve to be in the finals at all. 5th and 6th borderline but at least they have elevated themselves to a record more than just barely breaking even.
Biggest criticism of AOB is our regular season has been poor every year bar one miraculous run, even that year we squandered our start, again.
Making the 8 isn't an achievement if you land 7-8.
I want more.
The Gidley flick
Steve Southern
I think we've got the right people in the right places in the front office now and I've been disappointed in results this year but I can see that they are clearing out the guys who need to be and looking for top tier guys . The Brown signing is a upgrade from the guys we've had but did we spend to much only time will tell but I'll give a chance and I'm still happy to see what aob can do with next year's squad.
mullenmagic
Danny 'Bedsy' Buderus
In 2018 or 2019 the NRL did one of those player polls and the Knights were 3rd or 4th on the list or most attractive clubs if a player had to leave their own club. Obviously Kalyn was the first domino on the huge contract for a rookie and then over the next 2-3 years you had Mitchell Pearce pick the Knights over staying in Sydney, David Klemmer (NSW/Aus mainstay and inarguably on the short list agitate the best prop in the world at 24-years old) agitate for a release from the fledgling Bulldogs to join, and soon after Tyson Frizell leave his hometown team in his prime because he thought the Knights were more likely to be successful.
In 2025 we’ve had a local junior turn down way more money and a guaranteed jersey to keep being a 4th stringer, Finau from the Dragons turn down more money and an easier path to first grade, Leo basically refuse to even consider staying. All but one of our signings have been current reserve graders. The other signing took an unprecedented contract (one that is a punchline to non-Knights fans) to get a pretty good player.
I would love to hear the rationale behind the idea that the club is clearly on the right path to success*, let alone “close.” Feels like that opinion is based on hope more than anything else. The clubs perception is in the mud. Significantly worse than it was at the start of AOB’s tenure.
*By success I mean at least being a team that matters at the end of seasons, but ideally actually competing**.
**Competing with the other 16 teams for premierships, not competing against the ghost of the Nathan Brown-era Knights like some fans try to point to as a way to frame AOB’s results as a success in comparison.
In 2025 we’ve had a local junior turn down way more money and a guaranteed jersey to keep being a 4th stringer, Finau from the Dragons turn down more money and an easier path to first grade, Leo basically refuse to even consider staying. All but one of our signings have been current reserve graders. The other signing took an unprecedented contract (one that is a punchline to non-Knights fans) to get a pretty good player.
I would love to hear the rationale behind the idea that the club is clearly on the right path to success*, let alone “close.” Feels like that opinion is based on hope more than anything else. The clubs perception is in the mud. Significantly worse than it was at the start of AOB’s tenure.
*By success I mean at least being a team that matters at the end of seasons, but ideally actually competing**.
**Competing with the other 16 teams for premierships, not competing against the ghost of the Nathan Brown-era Knights like some fans try to point to as a way to frame AOB’s results as a success in comparison.
The Gidley flick
Steve Southern
I think since then we've had 4 different recruitment managers wanting to do what the feel like the best direction to go so there's been no stability in direction the club is going but with POS here now and hopefully for the long term there is some stability. Yes we missed out on Jonah but there was a possibility that Hughes was going to leave and there would be a position to be in the spine of pappy Munster and grant i'd think most young spine players would wait 12 months to be apart of that spine . Leo was disgruntled from the previous recruitment manager promising upgrade that he never got so was always going to be hard to keep him. But I'd also say we've kept 2 experience guys for cheaper in gags and friz because they want to be apart of this club so not all bad news
Tackleslikeagirl
Brett Grogan
Partially agree.
I will just add, you at least have a chance if you make the 8, not common but teams 5-8 have played GF. The main advantage of top 4 is you just have the second bite of the cherry/or a week off pending wether you win or loose.
My point is in reference that the Sharks have also underachieved, haven’t grown or improved under their coach. Same argument many here have about AOB.