O'Brien needs an experienced coach as a mentor for at least his first year.
Wests mentioned they were looking at Sheens, Hagan and Allan Bell in one article.
I suspect the role of whoever gets this job will simply be to keep up to date with what is happening at the club, and give the new coach some tips about how to deal with slacking players, disruptive staff, media noise or things like that.
I doubt they'd have any input on game plans or training methods, other than maybe Hagan or Bell could point him towards good sandhills to run the guys up or similar.
Bell and O'Brien could have some very good conversations you'd think, if both have the "encyclopedic" knowledge of the game they are both supposed to have. In fact, Bell and O'Brien might have a lot in common - both long term assistants to big name coaches who are credited with improving young players by going above and beyond. Bell famously spent hours every week putting together videos of the great playmakers and talking the Johns brothers through the skills shown by guys like Terry Lamb, Ricky Stuart, Peter Sterling, Steve Mortimer etc. Matty Johns wrote a great tribute to him when they made him a life member of the club.
Bell has also been a longtime mentor for Mitchell Pearce, even before he came to the Knights, so might have some good insights to share on our structure gong forward.
https://www.newcastleherald.com.au/...chell-pearce-will-thrive-as-a-knights-leader/