Adam O'Brien discussion

My take is we got rid of AOB at the right time, but got Issac Mose'd on his last deal signed in '23.

He was definitely trying to go about things the Melbourne way and have a game based on solid defence and mistake free football, the storm style for most of the 2010s. But two things happened, he was forever trying to bed in the basics and never added any layers to what we were doing like Melbourne did, and the game moved on from that style of footy. While Bellamy realised this, AOB was still trying to nail down the basics. Think competing for bombs. Not competing was a tactic a lot of coaches, Bellamy and Bennet included, used during the 2010s. However, as Newcastle were an outlier with that tactic last year, the Storm are recruiting wingers like Xavier Coates and Will Warbrick expressly to compete for bombs. The game had changed.

23 was a great ride. It shouldn't be underestimated how good we were at the basics and defensively through that run. Then Kp was getting to his sweet spots and we were too good for sides during that period. We weren't sacking the coach after that.

My biggest issue with 24 was as the season started those basics that had been so good at the end of 23 for us had gone out the window and it felt like we started from scratch again, instead of building on solid foundations. To AOB's credit, we found a way to win games at the end of 24 with a defensive mindset and a halves pairing of Cogger and Crossland, mainly because Ponga was getting to his sweet spots again. Another finals appearance. AOB's limitations were becoming obvious, would any club have sacked the coach at this point though?

For 25, I think AOB even realised that such a limited halves partnership wasn't going to cut it over a full year. To his credit, I believe the basics and defence that carried us through the 24 run were maintained alot better through preseason. He did have the foresight to realise Sharpe could be an extra string to our bow in attack, but then second guessed himself that Sharpe could play a traditional 5/8 role, so Ponga's hybrid half position became a thing. That took Ponga away from his sweet spots. We looked putrid in attack last year BEFORE injuries really cruelled us. The ugly team thing, the fans don't know what they are talking about thing, his position became untenable. Before this, the only time he could have been moved in my eyes was if the board was more ruthless in the month before that 23 run.

For mine, AOB's two biggest gifts to us were the four finals appearances and realising Sharpe could be a half. Not realising the game had moved on from 2010s tactics were his downfall. For guys like Mat Croker, now having a coach who allows him to play to his strengths must have been a godsend.

This take was prompted by the fox article on Holbrook earlier in the week to contrast the two as coaches, for some context.
 
That damn round one game, 2024, vs the Raiders … it gave him the excuse to throw virtually everything that went right in 2023 out the window and revert to an uber-conservative gameplan. It was where he felt most comfortable, and that’s how we played again for the next two years (apart from one half vs Manly where he told us to chuck it around!).

Anyway, at the end of his time here he seemed extremely burnt out … I think he needed a few years out of coaching, and I’m actually finding it quite stressful seeing him how he is atm. I’ve been there before with burnout. He did do plenty of good things for the club, and I hope he gets some success soon. Don’t really get all the hate, it seems extreme. 🤷🏻‍♂️
 
Warbs said:
I just don't understand what would've made the Bulldogs think that signing him as there attack coach was a good idea. The guy had just stepped away from the Knights saying he couldn't do it, or was pushed. Either way, they only had to look at the number of games where we had scored 0 points at halftime. I think we set a new record for it and everyone knew the team had been bood of at halftimes for not scoring.
What out of all that makes another team think, F**K, he'll be a good coach for us. I'm blown away anyone went anywhere near him. I wouldn't have him near an under 10's team.
Now they talk on all the footy shows and podcasts about what's happened to the Bulldogs, HELLO you've been AOB'd.
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Not all on him they have also forgotten how to defend 😂. I'm enjoying it
 
Owey said:
My take is we got rid of AOB at the right time, but got Issac Mose'd on his last deal signed in '23.

He was definitely trying to go about things the Melbourne way and have a game based on solid defence and mistake free football, the storm style for most of the 2010s. But two things happened, he was forever trying to bed in the basics and never added any layers to what we were doing like Melbourne did, and the game moved on from that style of footy. While Bellamy realised this, AOB was still trying to nail down the basics. Think competing for bombs. Not competing was a tactic a lot of coaches, Bellamy and Bennet included, used during the 2010s. However, as Newcastle were an outlier with that tactic last year, the Storm are recruiting wingers like Xavier Coates and Will Warbrick expressly to compete for bombs. The game had changed.

23 was a great ride. It shouldn't be underestimated how good we were at the basics and defensively through that run. Then Kp was getting to his sweet spots and we were too good for sides during that period. We weren't sacking the coach after that.

My biggest issue with 24 was as the season started those basics that had been so good at the end of 23 for us had gone out the window and it felt like we started from scratch again, instead of building on solid foundations. To AOB's credit, we found a way to win games at the end of 24 with a defensive mindset and a halves pairing of Cogger and Crossland, mainly because Ponga was getting to his sweet spots again. Another finals appearance. AOB's limitations were becoming obvious, would any club have sacked the coach at this point though?

For 25, I think AOB even realised that such a limited halves partnership wasn't going to cut it over a full year. To his credit, I believe the basics and defence that carried us through the 24 run were maintained alot better through preseason. He did have the foresight to realise Sharpe could be an extra string to our bow in attack, but then second guessed himself that Sharpe could play a traditional 5/8 role, so Ponga's hybrid half position became a thing. That took Ponga away from his sweet spots. We looked putrid in attack last year BEFORE injuries really cruelled us. The ugly team thing, the fans don't know what they are talking about thing, his position became untenable. Before this, the only time he could have been moved in my eyes was if the board was more ruthless in the month before that 23 run.

For mine, AOB's two biggest gifts to us were the four finals appearances and realising Sharpe could be a half. Not realising the game had moved on from 2010s tactics were his downfall. For guys like Mat Croker, now having a coach who allows him to play to his strengths must have been a godsend.

This take was prompted by the fox article on Holbrook earlier in the week to contrast the two as coaches, for some context.
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👏 👏 👏 💯 💯 💯
 
jamesgould said:
I’ve been there before with burnout. He did do plenty of good things for the club, and I hope he gets some success soon. Don’t really get all the hate, it seems extreme
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No one will wish him as much ill will as some still do to Bennett, BUT for me that 4-20 loss to the Tigers was what did it for me and the 15 min odd period of run it straight, knock on.
Felt like he lost them there and then and while there were a lot of annoyances last year that period was the peak of it, and maybe the start of it.
 
While I do feel is overdue time that we all move on, I do feel that we will still be talking about him and his time here in 20yrs time..!

For what it's worth, I certainly don't hate the guy. His tactics frustrated me (all of us, really) for a lot of his time as our coach, but I liked the defensive steel we had for a lot of that time, and I do feel he had nothing new to give (and what he was giving wasn't working, or likely to work again in the near future), so it was time-up. We came last, the egg was broken, so now it was time to make the omlette. And I believe it's cooking very nicely right now.
 
He brought in a required harder edge after the Nathan Brown years. Instilled some professionalism that we probably hadn't seen in the place since Wayne Bennett's dad's army was paid for and shipped in. Made the finals 4 times out of his 6 seasons here. That's what his real legacy is here. Unfortunately won't be remembered for that because he ultimately overstayed his welcome.

I think for most of the time, he had the players buying in, there seemed to be real commitment from the players, there was a real desire to win games and to win a comp. 2023 became basically his love letter to the club. Ponga had an all time purple patch and the rest of the squad was already buying in. Some of my fondest memories supporting the club were during that time. That finals match at home was an incredible experience live. It had us all believing what if. No one can take that away.

We thought a new dawn had reached us, the club had finally risen from the ashes and found a style that suited it. We knew how to win, knew what worked for us, that's not something that can be forgotten easily right? That's what made the following years so hard. Everything crashed back down to Earth and O'Brien struggled to innovate and adapt. We fumbled our chance. By 2025, the belief had well and truly faded and the buy in from the players ceased, and we saw a complete loss of the dressing room by the end.

Holbrook brought in exactly what we needed, some innovation and freedom which has seen a new lease on life for the players. We've got another half of the season to get through yet, but the ability to sit in the top 4 by mid year is something we haven't seen yet with this squad so all signs are pointing to we might finally be rising from the ashes again. The club might finally be competitive again!
 
I don't hate the man himself, wish him well in the future and hope he is doing ok.

Some people on here read comments critical of AOB and his time here and somehow link that up with hate for the man himself which to me is ludicrous. Nobody on here actually knows him, he isn't on here reading and rocking in a chair.

This is the first year after we got rid of him, and we are seeing a marked improvement in performance. So, naturally you are going to get comments along the lines of thank god he is gone. You can bet your donkey that if we struggled, there would be comments about how AOB was never the problem and was treated harshly etc.

He is gone, I am glad, I'm not going to pretend. But, I don't play the man himself, I hope he is doing well now and in to the future.
 
I've said it several times, but i'll say it again.
NRL coach is a very highly paid position and it should be treated like any other highly paid job.
In fact, it should be treated exactly the same as highly paid NRL players.
That is, you get results, or you move on and another highly qualified person gets the big money to bring their skills to the job.
Most clubs hire and fire coaches on that basis.
At the Knights, we back the coach for far too long.
No other club would have tolerated Nathan Brown for more than 2 years.
I think O'Brien might have got no more than 3 years at any other club.
Hagan went at least 2 years too long.

It's like being CEO of a major company - you get maybe 3 years for big money, and if you don't deliver great results, you get the sack.
 
Agree with most of the above. By the end he was obviously holding the team back and Holbrook has reinvented the side immediately to be a more attacking and effective team.

That being said the criticism he cops is getting ridiculous. I heard Marc Granville interviewing Best on the weekend and from the 1st question he was goading Bradman to criticise Obi. It’s way over the top.
 
They were saying when the Bulldogs considered AOB for an assistant role, they consulted senior Storm players like Billy Slater/Cameron Smith who were there when he was an assistant etc. They all gave him glowing praise and endorsements. Even though it's an assistant role I don't know what the point is of getting people's opinion who haven't played in that long, in a role he was in 5-6 years ago.
Maybe for any aspiring coach who has been an assistant for a while, just get Isaac Moses to be your agent.
 
Billy said:
I've said it several times, but i'll say it again.
NRL coach is a very highly paid position and it should be treated like any other highly paid job.
In fact, it should be treated exactly the same as highly paid NRL players.
That is, you get results, or you move on and another highly qualified person gets the big money to bring their skills to the job.
Most clubs hire and fire coaches on that basis.
At the Knights, we back the coach for far too long.
No other club would have tolerated Nathan Brown for more than 2 years.
I think O'Brien might have got no more than 3 years at any other club.
Hagan went at least 2 years too long.

It's like being CEO of a major company - you get maybe 3 years for big money, and if you don't deliver great results, you get the sack.
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That’s the hard, cold truth. Agree.
Remember what Jack Gibson said.
Three years is enough, and the ultimate question:
If I stay, can I make this team better and maybe win a premiership?
 
Defence wins games said:
That’s the hard, cold truth. Agree.
Remember what Jack Gibson said.
Three years is enough, and the ultimate question:
If I stay, can I make this team better and maybe win a premiership?
Click to expand...
Maybe there's something to it, even the coaches who stay at clubs like Bennett at the Broncos and Bellamy didn't win anywhere near as many comps at the end of their stay as they did at the beginning.

But they were still winning after three years, that does seem a bit short to me!
 
I thought Jack Cogger had a pretty decent game against the Warriors the other night. He looked way better than he did here at the Knights under AOB
 
mozza said:
Agree with most of the above. By the end he was obviously holding the team back and Holbrook has reinvented the side immediately to be a more attacking and effective team.

That being said the criticism he cops is getting ridiculous. I heard Marc Granville interviewing Best on the weekend and from the 1st question he was goading Bradman to criticise Obi. It’s way over the top.
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It’s disgusting and well into the territory of bullying which is why I staunchly defend him people still packing crap on him forget we made finals 4/6 years after being spoon boys, yes his time was done but he elevated the club more then dragged it down.
 
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