Matty Johns - Head Coach?

How does Matty get any experience as an assistant before taking over as Knights head coach? He'd have to quit Fox Sports and what go work for Bellyache for a year? Or work under a caretaker at the Knights...who that would be I have no idea, likely anyone qualified to teach Matty anything would be better off coaching the side.

If the Knights make Matty head coach we've not only got a rookie coach we've got one who doesn't have any coaching credentials and no current experience.

It's a worse deal than signing the next big thing amongst the current crop of rookies who are assistants at clubs in the NRL looking for an NRL head coaching opportunity.

Also how many times do we have to see the media identity to head coach pathway fail (Loz - NSW, Freddy/Brandy/Joey - NSW, Kevvy - Broncos, Loz again - NSW*) before executives realise the coaching is a specialised gig not something anyone can just have a go at.

* Probably

PS. Isn't the licensing deal coming up? Maybe Matty is not confident the NRL will still be on Fox.
 
mullenmagic said:
Matthew Johns confirms a club has reached out (via a third party) about potentially becoming a head coach in 2026 when his Fox Sports contract expires, and says he is interested if the offer is right. Rothfield presumes that it's the Knights but says there's no evidence of who the club is. Don't think he'd be alone in coming to that conclusion, though.

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Buzz is guessing (incorrectly) as usual but don't think he's ready to step into a role tomorrow or even for the 2026 season. So many coaches get chewed up and spat out. He has done specialised coaching with many teams so if he is serious it may be of benefit to learn under someone like Robbo/Bennett/Bellamy for a couple of years beforehand. I think he has already spoken to Bennett about coaching in the past but don't know if its just to drum up his asking price with supply and demand too.
 
There is no chance OB is in any trouble now.

He may be if we don't fire this season, but certainly not now.

As much as I don't think OB can take us much further up the ladder, he still deserves his change this season. See how he is going around round 10 and start to think about it is what the club should be doing.
 
www.newcastleherald.com.au

'I can't be a courier': Knights legend reiterates coaching ambitions

"A third party reached out to me..."
www.newcastleherald.com.au www.newcastleherald.com.au

Article that Says Johns doesn't know which club might want him, but says an individual who he implies is very wealthy reached out to him and asked if he has an interest in coaching.

In totally unrelated news, Cessnock Knights tragic and filthy rich recently retired CEO of NIB, Mark Fitzgibbon, was saying he might get involved in footy in some way as something to do in retirement.

www.newcastleherald.com.au

What's next for Mark Fitzgibbon after retiring from NIB

After more than two decades leading NIB, Mark Fitzgibbon plans to spend his retirement on the golf course,...
www.newcastleherald.com.au www.newcastleherald.com.au

"I'm very interested in facilitating professional team performance - I did some work with the [Newcastle] Knights when Wayne Bennett was here a long time ago now, which I enjoyed.
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TV commentators/media indenity to coach. Usually ends in disaster. Coaching is a discipline of its own.
 
Seano said:
TV commentators/media indenity to coach. Usually ends in disaster. Coaching is a discipline of its own.
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Kevin Walters would have been one of the most qualified to take up a head coaching role out there though. Five years as head coach in the Queensland Cup, two years in Superleague, and four years as Queensland coach. Then as assistant coach, five years at the Broncos, a year as halves coach for the Knights, and another five years as Queensland assistant coach.

On the other hand in the media he had like two years on Fox Sports.

So coaching wise, when he took over the Broncos he had more experience than Cleary when he started, probably equal to or more than Bellamy, quite similar to Trent Robinson with the stint in Super League.

I don’t think you can just point to having had a media job and say someone will suck at coaching, there’s a lot more to it than that.
 
Are you Kevvy's press secretary James? He had a largely mediocre coaching career before primarily moving into commentary (where he is quite good). Yes, he had some success with QLD origin and he did take the Broncos to a GF but look at the players he's had at his disposal. Then there was last year's disaster with a roster chock full of Origin talent, the Broncos didn't sack him because was a great coach.

But fair play Kevvy is a much more credentialed coach than I've given him credit for....however, Matty Johns hasn't anywhere near those credentials.
 
Seano said:
Are you Kevvy's press secretary James? He had a largely mediocre coaching career before primarily moving into commentary (where he is quite good). Yes, he had some success with QLD origin and he did take the Broncos to a GF but look at the players he's had at his disposal. Then there was last year's disaster with a roster chock full of Origin talent, the Broncos didn't sack him because was a great coach.

But fair play Kevvy is a much more credentialed coach than I've given him credit for....however, Matty Johns hasn't anywhere near those credentials.
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Just a different point of view. I never said Walters did a good job as Broncos coach, but I don’t think that had anything to do with him working on Fox for two years.

Matthew Johns I think does have a lot of the football nous and skillset to make a successful coach. Of course it would take some training and learning, but I wouldn’t write him off just because he’s been in the media.
 
I agree that Matty has a lot of nous and could become a good head coach, I'm not writing him off at all. I just don't think he should do his apprenticeship in first grade. Well at least not at the Knights.
 
Seano said:
I agree that Matty has a lot of nous and could become a good head coach, I'm not writing him off at all. I just don't think he should do his apprenticeship in first grade. Well at least not at the Knights.
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Well the original article mentions how Bennett advised him to do some lower grade coaching before taking on an NRL side, so no reason to think he wouldn’t take that advice.
 
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