A bit more faith in his players, a bit more faith in his employers ... and a bit more faith in himself.

Despite speculation that Newcastle Knights officials were plotting to remove Brown as head coach, I'd be more inclined to believe they were just preparing for the worst-case scenario.

It became glaringly obvious during Newcastle's recent six-game losing streak that missing the finals was a distinct possibility, at which point Brown's record would have deservedly come under scrutiny.

He was given unprecedented leeway to rebuild the club from rock bottom, but in his fourth season at the helm most agreed his roster was more than capable of featuring in the play-offs.

If that did not eventuate, it made sense that the powers-that-be should have a contingency plan in place. Hence it appears there have been informal approaches made behind the scenes to establish who else was out there and what other options the club had.

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I would be very surprised if any firm commitment was made to any rival coach.

When word filtered back to Brown, however, he rightly became nervous about his job security.

Hence he approached CEO Phil Gardner, volunteered to fall on his sword, and spent the next few days spruiking via the media that he was making an amicable exit in the best interests of the club.

But what if Brown had taken the alternative approach and backed his team to win the rest of their games to make the finals?

The announcement that he would be standing aside at season's end came after a 42-6 win against North Queensland that kept Newcastle's hopes alive.

They had games remaining against Wests Tigers, Gold Coast and Penrith that appeared potentially winnable.

Let's just imagine, for the sake of the argument, that the Knights had been victorious in all three games and qualified for the play-offs for the first time since 2013.

Would Newcastle officials have then proceeded to sack the coach anyway?

They wouldn't have dared. The backlash from fans would have been ferocious.

A top-eight berth would almost certainly have ensured Brown continued for at least another season.

But my guess is the coach, who knows better than anyone the strengths and weaknesses of his players, privately doubted they could get the job done.

Rather than risk being tossed onto the sacked-coaches' scrapheap, he preferred the exit strategy of leaving of his own volition.

And I can't help wondering if that was a factor in Saturday's woeful 46-4 hammering by the Tigers. If Brown had lost faith in his players, there is a fair chance they picked up on that. The feeling was probably mutual.

That perhaps explains Saturday's performance, and Brown's decision to walk away, effective immediately.