McDermott, who guided Leeds to four premierships during an eight-year coaching stint between 2011-18, and also headed up ill-fated Canadian expansion franchise Toronto Wolfpack, looks set to replace Willie Peters as Knights coach Adam O'Brien's right-hand man.

Contacted Friday, the Knights were not willing to comment on a NewsCorp report that 52-year-old McDermott will join the club following the Rugby League World Cup in England.

McDermott, who started assisting Fiji prepare for the tournament last week and is expected to help them through their campaign, coached Featherstone Rovers in the Championship - the competition below Super League - this year but resigned after his side was knocked out in the semi-finals in September.

He appears to fit the mould of an experienced mentor that Knights management had indicated a preference to hire following the departure of Peters, who took up the top job at Super League club Hull Kingston Rovers.

As a player, McDermott made 251 appearances for Bradford Bulls and played four Tests for Great Britain.

Members of the Knights' 2001 premiership-winning side would remember the prop - he was part of the Bradford team that beat Newcastle 41-26 in the 2002 World Club Challenge.

After retiring in 2003, McDermott moved straight into coaching and has held head-coaching roles almost continuously since 2006.

Knights general manager of football Danny Buderus was part of the Leeds' side McDermott coached to the 2011 Super League title.

Leeds' grand final victory over St Helens would be Buderus' last game for the club before he returned for his second stint at the Knights.

McDermott is no stranger to working with big-name players, having coached Sonny Bill Williams at the Wolfpack in 2020 before the club ran into financial troubles.

The Wolfpack won their way into the Super League under McDermott, but withdrew from the competition after COVID-19 hit.

McDermott also coached the United States of America at the 2017 World Cup.

"Certainly we believe someone with experience would be beneficial," Knights director of football Peter Parr told the Newcastle Herald last month of the type of assistant the club was pursuing.

"We've got a good group of young coaches in Rory Kostjasyn, Blake Green and Eric Smith, so we think a bit of experience around them would be good for them and Adam."

In addition to a new assistant, with less than a month before the first players begin pre-season training, the Knights are still yet to announce a replacement for former high-performance manager Hayden Knowles.

Three other performance staff, who worked closely with Knowles, have also since departed.

Pre-season training begins in the first week of November for the first batch of players.

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