Fresh from signing a new extended contract with the Knights, coach Adam O'Brien says making the play-offs and going deep into the finals series is the pass mark he and his team will be striving to achieve in 2021 in this wide-ranging interview for Toohey's News.
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Toohey's News: Lets kick things off with a hypothetical. If you are the CEO of a NRL club in the current win-at-all-costs environment, would you risk offering your coach the equivalent of a four year deal after just one season?
Adam O'Brien: That's a good question. Look I probably don't normally answer hypotheticals but let me answer it this way. If it was a player I wanted to keep but thought I could lose him, the answer would be yes. We've brought in young players and then given them four-year deals.
TN: Your extension is until the end of 2024 - it's a massive show of support isn't it?
AB: Yeah, it is. And I can tell you it's not something that I take lightly. I want to say I wasn't looking at going anywhere else either. I didn't talk to anyone but I guess this has put all that sort of talk to bed.
TN: You must have felt pretty secure in Newcastle though because you and Sharyn [wife] splashed out and bought a house in Merewether last year?
AOB: Yeah we did. I had some land in Batemans Bay that I loved more than Sharyn [laughter] that I sold to get it [the house]. So yeah, I was sold on this place straight away.
TN: Touching on last season, you didn't get an easy ride in your debut year did you with COVID and the injury toll. Given the team's inconsistencies, was seventh spot a pass mark for you?
AOB: At the start of the season, we wanted to play finals but the glass half empty in me says we were there for just 80 minutes. So yeah, I'm glad we got the chance to play finals footy and I wouldn't hand it back but no, it wasn't for long enough and there was nothing to like about the way we went out. I'm still not over that completely.
TN: What changes have you made to solve the consistency issues?
AOB: We've made some changes in and around what our week will look like between games. We are going to review games pretty quickly after the event because I think we need to move on as soon as possible after a win or a loss.
We can be pretty emotional and sometimes the pressure of the town and who we are representing can add to that. The boys are not immune to feeling that pressure and it can be taxing on them so that adds to it. That starts with me too because I'm emotional.
TN: Is that where there's a massive difference in playing for clubs like Melbourne and the Roosters where you haven't really got that level of outside pressure?
AOB: Don't get me wrong, I wouldn't change for a second that level of support we get from our fans because it's outstanding. I wouldn't give that back, no way. We just need to deal with the other side of it too. The frowns or the smiles on Monday morning around the town are usually on the team. Teams like the Storm and Roosters don't have to deal with that type of pressure.
TN: Have you forgiven Mitchell Pearce for ruining your Christmas?
AOB: Yeah, of course.
TN: The club, and you in particular, copped some heat in the media over how you handled the whole Pearce texting drama after it blew up for largely staying silent on it. Could you have handled it better?
AOB: I wouldn't change a thing. It was a private matter that involved innocent parties and I wasn't going to compromise myself. I know it would have fed the need of some individual journalists but I'm not going to sacrifice any one of these players or their love ones to appease a journalist, ever. In hindsight, I think the club handled it the best we could and there was no reason to comment on it.
Morally, it's not right but there was nothing illegal in it. It probably goes on in my street for all I know but it's private and that's the way it should stay. I'd rather them [the media] come after me than go after the loved ones that were involved in it.
TN: Pearce stood down from the captaincy over it but as it turned out, you had been reviewing the leadership issue for months prior anyway. Were you considering replacing him?
AOB: No, but I was probably leaning towards a co-captaincy model with him in it as well. With everything that happened last year, just because of who he is, he had an awful lot on his plate with COVID and all the injuries and it showed in his performances so I was looking at ways to free him up.
TN: He copped plenty of criticism for his form last year but he remains a vital piece of the puzzle for you. What do you think losing the captaincy will do for him?
AOB: It will take some heat off him hopefully and some of that responsibility away which will free up his thinking. But at the end of the day, he is just a natural on-field leader anyway so he is still going to be the voice out there during games.
TN: So what about the leadership. You have appointed a group but not named a definitive captain with Daniel Saifiti and Jayden Brailey to share the role against the Bulldogs in round one. How is it going to work?
AOB: I'll look to rotate it around a little bit and share the responsibilities depending on what game it is. Sometimes it can be draining for players too who aren't used to doing it so someone might jump out and we'll add another one out of the group.
TN: So you won't have an official captain?
AOB: No, not at this stage but that doesn't mean that I won't down the track. The official stuff Greeny [Blake Green] will do the bulk of and then we'll see what happens.
The big thing with our leadership group is there are blokes in there who are action-type men, emotional leaders and there are tactical, calm leaders as well so I think we have the right balance. I don't see it as a big issue to be honest.
TN: You've been handed a so-called 'soft draw' this season but there is no Ponga, no Green, no Fitzgibbon and no Edrick Lee for at least the first month probably. How important are those early rounds going to be with the calibre of players out?
AOB: Just as important as if we had a so-called hard draw. The good thing is we have known for a long time those players were going to be missing so there are expectations on the players who will fill those roles and they understand what they need to bring.
The amount of players we had to play last year, I don't want to have to go through that again but we could. As for the draw, it's the NRL. When was the last time there was an easy game?
TN: What are you looking for from Connor Watson with his move to lock?
AOB: I like the small forward and I think we have enough big guys in the middle. If you look at the Victor Radley/Brandon Smith-type No.13 role, I think he can add a fair bit to us. He is the closest forward we've got to being a half as well so you can essentially frame up your attack with four halves.
TN: So what about your attack that was often criticised last season for being predictable. How does that change?
AOB: I think the way the rules are with less stoppages, the six agains and the continuous play, the game is going towards a more open and less structured style and favouring the flat-out players and that's exactly what someone like Connor is and although there will be some adjustments for him playing there, I don't want to temper his style too much either.
TN: What plans have you got for Kurt Mann?
AOB: I can see Kurt doing a job at 13 at times too. One thing I know about Kurt, when we played him at 9 in defence in the middle, his hit and stick with his contact is as good as any other forward. I don't lose anything with Kurt going in there defensively and he's played some 13 at the Dragons. But right now, he is our best 6.
TN: What about when Green returns, do you find room for all three in your 17?
AOB: I do, yeah. With Connor and Kurt, one could start and one could come off the bench and vice-versa.
TN: So what's a pass mark for you this year?
AOB: For starters, we need to be playing finals again. We can't go backwards. But even more than that, we have to not be making up the numbers when we get there. We need to go deep. I'm not going to say we are going to win the comp but we should be aiming for that, every day.
TN: Where does the improvement come from to make the finals than go deep when you get there?
AOB: We need to improve our consistency and some personnel will help there obviously. You can't understate getting Brails [Jayden Brailey] back, we essentially get Connor back, we've got Friz [Tyson Frizell] who will help us enormously, Greeny will help with our consistency as well by calming us down. The evidence is there from last season. Everyone played well with him on the field. We expect everyone to improve and I'm included in that.
TN: Your first season as a coach in the NRL was a real baptism of fire but you must have learned plenty. What did you get wrong and what have you done to fix it?
AOB: If I'm honest, I probably misjudged the professionalism of the playing group to a degree and the level of attention to detail required around how we monitor that professionalism. There was a time there last season after a taxing period with games and travel where we probably backed off training a little to try and put some air in their tyres.
The mistake I made was I probably gave them too much credit for knowing what it is to be a professional and at the end of the day, they only know what they know. It was a learning curve for me and the staff that we need to be all over them 24/7 and I think we have made some big strides in that area this year. There is not a day in their schedule when they walk in here and know if they are going to be drug tested, piss tested or their skin-folds taken.
When they drive in, they have no idea what's coming but it will be something around their professional standards and you have players like Barney [Mitch Barnett] and others who are recording all-time personal best skin-folds now. So I feel like that's made a real difference to us leading into this season. It is something in hindsight I should have been a lot stricter on last year but you live and learn.
TN: What about falling a heap at the backend of the season. The side has made an artform of it in recent years. How do you get them peaking at the pointy end when it really counts?
AOB: Ideally, we need to be looking to build into our season and adding layers as we go. Leading into last year, I felt the squad needed a really tough pre-season. It was based on that grit and resilience around your defence and we hammered them.
But then COVID hit and we went 18 weeks without any breaks after they hit us hard with all that early travel. In the end, we just ran out of gas. We've changed things up. We've still gone hard this year but not as hard and I'm mindful that we need to pace ourselves and add some stuff along the way and build into our season a little more.
But I'm not giving the players an out here to start the season slowly. Being 1-4 [win-loss] because we want to build into our season is definitely not okay. There is a balance we need to find there.
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