Our next head coach

Who should be the head coach in 2026?

  • Blake Green

    Votes: 5 5.9%

  • Brian McDermott

    Votes: 14 16.5%

  • Brad Arthur

    Votes: 13 15.3%

  • Willie Peters

    Votes: 40 47.1%

  • John Morris

    Votes: 18 21.2%

  • Justin Holbrook

    Votes: 42 49.4%

  • Des Hasler

    Votes: 1 1.2%

  • Sam Burgess

    Votes: 1 1.2%

  • Billy Slater

    Votes: 6 7.1%

  • Other (name below)

    Votes: 1 1.2%
  • Total voters
    85
Everyone is getting a mention. Report oldboys not keen on Green. McDermott has their backing.
Id like to see him given a crack not sure why he hasnt been in the conversation.
 
Les Misérables said:
Im not so sure about that. There are some deceivingly cheap players in there and a distinct lack of forward depth onto the bench, which is a trade off for a stacked 13.
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I guess it depends what kind of deals players like Lucas and Sharpe signed but I would be surprised if they’re not on pretty good wickets.
 
MBQLD said:
Can someone explain how Arthur or Holbrook is whipping up such a frenzy? I’m just trying to find stats on how many grand finals they’ve cleaned up together but having trouble?…….. 🦗
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Yes Arthur has a better win loss record but he has other unwanted records too.

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Holbrook made the finals with the Titans in 2021. His season finishes with them were 9, 8, 13, 8 (when he was sacked). And btw, they hadn’t won a game in a year when he took over, they were wooden spooners from Garth Brennan’s time in charge.

I guess at first glance he has a similar record to AOB, but it’s balanced by the Titans being one of the toughest coaching gigs in the NRL, coaches there before and after him being total failures, and his success in Super League.

Not saying he’d be my first choice, but I see why he’s in the discussion.
 
HarVeeGee13 said:
I’m not sure why Brad Arthur’s “unwanted finals record” continued to be a black mark against him when his team made a grand final immediately after that…
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Not saying I know or have the correct answer but I just (feel) AOB’s best mate isn’t it.
 
jamesgould said:
Holbrook made the finals with the Titans in 2021. His season finishes with them were 9, 8, 13, 8 (when he was sacked). And btw, they hadn’t won a game in a year when he took over, they were wooden spooners from Garth Brennan’s time in charge.

I guess at first glance he has a similar record to AOB, but it’s balanced by the Titans being one of the toughest coaching gigs in the NRL, coaches there before and after him being total failures, and his success in Super League.

Not saying he’d be my first choice, but I see why he’s in the discussion.
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Yeah, but we are one of the toughest gigs in the NRL.
 
Kurriboy said:
Yeah, but we are one of the toughest gigs in the NRL.
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Not even in the same ball park, in spite of what Joey said yesterday. The Titans job is the worst one in the sport. They’re just never going to be good.

Opposite problems: I think everyone in charge in the Knights genuinely wants to be good & real resources are being invested in it. But so many people have competing ideas about how to get there. Agendas. Which is why it was so important to get strong personalities with real track records and respect in the sport like Parr and POS. Chris James too. People who will say - right, this is what we need to do, and do it, stick with it. I think Phil was just too easily influenced by whoever last had him in the room for example.

Literally no one involved at the Titans cares enough about being good to really work at it. They will never come up with a different answer than “sack the coach, hire someone else”.
 
The few Old Boys quoted in the article say they want McDermott because Mal Reilly was also English. That’s the extent of it. Just chasing the 90s. Hopefully the club puts more thought into it than that. Similar to the logic of the fans who were certain Tyrone Thompson would be good because of who his brother is, but even less sensical.

The dirty little secret is that McDermott was already a spent force as a coach in England before getting a cushy low-pressure job on the beach in Australia. His last three stops were two second division teams and the novelty act that was the Toronto Wolfpack. If he wasn’t from the same country as our coach from 30 years ago no one would be talking about him as an option, and fittingly no one in the actual media is. Toohey has completely shut that idea down anytime it’s presented to him.
 
HarVeeGee13 said:
Not even in the same ball park, in spite of what Joey said yesterday. The Titans job is the worst one in the sport. They’re just never going to be good.

Opposite problems: I think everyone in charge in the Knights genuinely wants to be good & real resources are being invested in it. But so many people have competing ideas about how to get there. Agendas. Which is why it was so important to get strong personalities with real track records and respect in the sport like Parr and POS. Chris James too. People who will say - right, this is what we need to do, and do it, stick with it. I think Phil was just too easily influenced by whoever last had him in the room for example.

Literally no one involved at the Titans cares enough about being good to really work at it. They will never come up with a different answer than “sack the coach, hire someone else”.
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I didn't say we are as bad as the Titans, but we are certainly one of the toughest coaching gigs in the NRL.
 
Talk seems to favour Holbrook which I would be happy with and would like Green and McDermott to stay for at least a season or two as assistants. Give Holbrook a chance to sort things out his way and settle in
 
Titans and Tigers would be worst. Dragons also never seem to have any success. Maybe I’d put us on the next tier with Cowboys, Souths, Eels, Cowboys, Sea Eagles. Success has been pretty fleeting in the last few years, but there’s stuff there for a decent coach to work with, and quite a long way from the basket case category.

Warriors probably showing the path for us, if we get the combination right. There is a route to success.
 
I think Cowboys and Knights are the most comparable gigs, for sure. Rosters with a lot of talent where there are some pretty clear recruitment mistakes bemoaned by fans & pundits. One all time great halfback casting a bit of a shadow over every subsequent player. In both cases the club gives the head coach a real go at it. Coaches have been able to get them playing very good footy every handful of years or so but not consistently. Etc.
 
Frank McWilliams said:
Telegraph saying Jarrod Mullins has applied for kicking coach with Knights
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The coaching gig at Newcastle was hard.

Coaches were under paid, had limited staff and poor facilities.

Our next coach should be well paid, have the staff he needs, have as good facilities as any other club and a full salary cap.

We also offer job security way more than other clubs, a supportive local media and an understanding supporter base.

Despite all the Sydney based naysayers, it should now be a dream gig for most coaches.

Only the few sides that get around the salary cap could give them a better chance to build the team they want.

Michael Hagan or Rick Stone could whinge about training out of shipping containers and having to use part timers to field a team - but the new coach has everything short of a gold plated toilet seat to do the job.
 
I think we would be a tough team to keep the boys inline.
Here more so then most places. Such a small town. And rugby leauge being such a big part of it. Young players walking round town like they are movies stars.
We really need a strong support team to manage their egos i rekon.
I dunno what the answer is but things need to change of the field before we improve on it.
 
We can't attack. Green is responsible for our attack. So why is he even in the convo? Being chummy with the boys should be a reason not to give him the job, not to give it to him.

Holbrook looks good when considering the train wreck that followed him at GC. GC were actually a potent attacking outfit under him. Given the coaching supply, he'd not be the worst choice in the world.
 
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