Adam O'Brien replacement?

Roundtable said:
Give Flannery a go. Took the Sharks from Spoon to Title. Sure, he might have drugged some of them, but even allowing for that, he turned them into a tough team and think they have only missed the finals once since he first got them there.

O'Brien had had long enough to get us playing good footy.
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I don't care about the drugging, I'd be keen if he drugged some of our players to get results, I'd take anything at this point.
 
I can't help thinking the good form of Jake Saifiti and Ponga in SOO has really underlined that there is nothing wrong with our squad and it all comes down to us needing a coach who can get the players to deliver on their potential.

3 years is enough for an underperforming coach.
 
The longer we keep AOB the more we lose. We don't just lose games, we start to lose players, we lose opportunities, we lose the good form of good players, we lose team morale, we lose lucrative sponsors. The list goes on.

With our squad, it couldn't get worse. There's only upside to a new coach.
 
We played better in 2020 than we have this year. So the coach definitely isn't improving the team.

I get the feeling West's will sack Obi some time into next season, but then it just another year wasted.

I'm also sick of his excuses in press conferences.
 
Billy said:
I can't help thinking the good form of Jake Saifiti and Ponga in SOO has really underlined that there is nothing wrong with our squad and it all comes down to us needing a coach who can get the players to deliver on their potential.

3 years is enough for an underperforming coach.
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Idk doesn't that sort of come down to the individual player though. Especially in the case of saifiti. I.e. isn't a lot of it 'effort'. Hard to blame a coach for a player not putting in?
 
Krambach said:
Idk doesn't that sort of come down to the individual player though. Especially in the case of saifiti. I.e. isn't a lot of it 'effort'. Hard to blame a coach for a player not putting in?
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Sounds like we don't even need a coach if the players just do it themselves.
We could just save 500k a year and tell the players to sort it out or we sack them as well.

But seriously, the buck stops with the guy on the big bucks. If what we are doing isn't working, the head coach fixes it, or we sack him and find someone who can.
That's the thing with big money jobs - get results or get cut.
 
Krambach said:
Idk doesn't that sort of come down to the individual player though. Especially in the case of saifiti. I.e. isn't a lot of it 'effort'. Hard to blame a coach for a player not putting in?
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its not the coach, the players playing with elite players makes a difference

maybe they should play with that intensity for the knights
 
Billy said:
Sounds like we don't even need a coach if the players just do it themselves.
We could just save 500k a year and tell the players to sort it out or we sack them as well.

But seriously, the buck stops with the guy on the big bucks. If what we are doing isn't working, the head coach fixes it, or we sack him and find someone who can.
That's the thing with big money jobs - get results or get cut.
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Come on seriously.

Your telling me that these blokes don't understand they need to put in their best effort to win?

The coach is a factor for sure. But geez the players need to be having a long hard think about what their performance means to them. They shouldn't need some motivational expert to get them running the ball hard.

Jsaf in only a few runs in origin showed he has the ticker. He cant run like that at club level? His legs get replaced do they?

Thats the coach right. Please!
 
AOB has a reputation for being a very technical coach, which is all well and good when the team is winning. But when you execute the stuff which has been drilled into you on the training paddock, the way you were doing it at training, and it puts you in a hole in every bloody game, the level of buy-in you have for the coach naturally slips.

For example, it is so hard to ever imagine a big shift from a Bellamy or Robbo-coached team where a pretty inexperienced prop like Matt Croker is the lynchpin, getting the ball at second receiver in the middle third with the biggest gap between him and other players in the whole attacking formation, and being asked to read and react to the defensive line and throw a tough pass. In fact watch where the prop gets the ball every damn time when they shift the ball and if it’s anywhere other than first receiver with the half quite close to them at second in a tight formation, I will buy you a car.

Like best case scenario this happens because the players didn’t understand their roles. If Croker was put in that position on purpose, as a planned thing… good grief. How would you feel if you were part of this - “gee we’ve worked on this structure so much and it ends in the easiest pick six you’ll ever see”. Not good probably!

Yes it would be nice if they went at 100% every week out of pure love for the badge and the fans, but that’s not realistic. Think of how hard you’ve worked in your life for good bosses or schoolteachers you trust vs crappy bosses or **** teachers. It’s just human nature. Look at Manly under Hasler vs under Barrett, the Roosters under Robbo vs the coaches which preceded him, and the Broncos under Seibold & Kevvie vs under current head coach Adam Reynolds.

Professional athletes have more intrinsic motivation than you or I, but at this level the margins are finer than they look and when one team is up for it and the other is giving about 80%… they’re usually in trouble. Especially if the way they’re playing, on top of not buying in, is actively an impediment to playing at their best, as we saw with Barrett (Potter isn’t even regarded as a good coach but boy has he taken the handcuffs off), and which I think to a lesser but still significant extent is the case with AOB.
 
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Kurriboy said:
Come on seriously.

Your telling me that these blokes don't understand they need to put in their best effort to win?

The coach is a factor for sure. But geez the players need to be having a long hard think about what their performance means to them. They shouldn't need some motivational expert to get them running the ball hard.

Jsaf in only a few runs in origin showed he has the ticker. He cant run like that at club level? His legs get replaced do they?

Thats the coach right. Please!
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I didn't say what needs to be fixed, and at this point it doesn't matter.
We aren't winning now, or any time soon.
If O'Brien isn't fixing that - to use one of his favourite sayings - next man up.
 
Regardless. We need a change. He hasn’t had the best run, but he’s had the opportunities. To be quite honest his style has been boring.
 
It's more like the coach needs to bring the best out of his players. Some guys respond to a challenge, others need to feel like they are backed and trusted, some need a rev up etc. Coach needs to find what works best for each one to get the best individual results out of them. Our players aren't responding to what AOB is doing.
 
Billy said:
Sounds like we don't even need a coach if the players just do it themselves.
We could just save 500k a year and tell the players to sort it out or we sack them as well.

But seriously, the buck stops with the guy on the big bucks. If what we are doing isn't working, the head coach fixes it, or we sack him and find someone who can.
That's the thing with big money jobs - get results or get cut.
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Agree. The coach is the leader. People no matter what they are paid or should do, will underperform when managed by a tool.
 
packo said:
Regardless. We need a change. He hasn’t had the best run, but he’s had the opportunities. To be quite honest his style has been boring.
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A boring playing style will not win premierships anymore.

The Knights are profitable, unfortunately paying out the contracts of under performing coaches is a cost of running a NRL team. It’s time for Wests to bite the bullet and sack O’Brien.

I’m am so over watching the Knights underperform each year, I actually look forward to the end of the season each year because the Knights games are mostly not worth watching.
 
Billy said:
I didn't say what needs to be fixed, and at this point it doesn't matter.
We aren't winning now, or any time soon.
If O'Brien isn't fixing that - to use one of his favourite sayings - next man up.
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Well I have the solution then. We should hire Brad Fittler, or Billy Slater.

KP - played under Billy and immediately improved.
JSAF - Looked better coached by Brad in 1 week than he has looked for the Knights period.
GAGS - Lifts his game under Billy and looks better.

Either of these coaches appear to have what it takes to motivate these players, imagine what they could do with the whole squad.

Unless of course, they have self motivated themselves as they are playing SOO and know the level required of them is higher. Something they seem unable to do at regular first grade level.

Must be the coach right. And the coach before that, and the coach before that...And the next coach, and the coach after that, and the coach after that.

Nothing will change until from the top down and all the way through the acceptable standard is raised significantly.

For a long time, Newcastle has been a place where coaching careers end, where playing careers end, and where young players careers are wasted. Mediocrity permeates the place and is allowed to persist.

Does blaming the coach and bringing in the next sacrificial lamb fix this?
 
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