Adam O'Brien (rugby league coach)
Personal information | ||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Born | 26 October 1977 Goulburn, New South Wales, Australia | |||||||||||||||||||||
Coaching information | ||||||||||||||||||||||
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Source: [1] As of 11 April 2024 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
Adam O'Brien (born 26 October 1977) is an Australian professional rugby league football coach who is the head coach of the Newcastle Knights in the National Rugby League (NRL).
He was previously an assistant coach at the Melbourne Storm and the Sydney Roosters.
Coaching career
[edit]Melbourne Storm
[edit]O'Brien started his professional coaching career as an assistant to Brad Arthur with the Melbourne Storm under-20s side before working as a development coach for Melbourne and spending five years alongside Craig Bellamy as an assistant to the NRL side.[2]
Sydney Roosters
[edit]After 11 years at the Melbourne club, O'Brien joined the Sydney Roosters as an attacking coach under head coach Trent Robinson in 2019.[3][4] He finished his time with the Roosters as a part of their 2019 NRL Grand Final winning team.[5]
Newcastle Knights
[edit]In September 2019, O'Brien signed a three-year contract to become the Head Coach of the Newcastle Knights starting in 2020.[3] Newcastle demonstrated a marked improvement in performance over previous seasons, finishing in 7th place and reaching the first of week of finals.[6] They finished the year with 11 wins, 1 draw and 9 losses.[7] In February 2021, the Newcastle club extended his contract until the end of 2024.[8]
O'Brien guided Newcastle to a 7th placed finish in the 2021 NRL season as the club qualified for the finals. In the first week of the 2021 Finals Series, Newcastle were defeated 28-20 by Parramatta in the elimination final which ended their season.[9] After failing to reach the finals in 2022, O'Brien took Newcastle to the finals in 2023 as the club finished 5th. They would reach the second week of the finals but were eliminated by the New Zealand Warriors. In the 2024 NRL season, O'Brien guided Newcastle to an 8th place finish. They would be eliminated in week one of the finals by North Queensland.[10]
Head Coaching Statistics
[edit]| Team | Year | Regular Season | Finals | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Won | Lost | Ties | Win % | Finish | Won | Lost | Win % | Result | ||
 |
2020 | 11 | 8 | 1 | .575 | 7th of 16 | 0 | 1 | .000 | Lost to South Sydney Rabbitohs in Elimination Final |
|
2021 | 12 | 12 | 0 | .500 | 7th of 16 | 0 | 1 | .000 | Lost to Parramatta Eels in Elimination Final |
|
2022 | 6 | 18 | 0 | .250 | 14th of 16 | — | — | — | Missed Finals |
|
2023 | 14 | 9 | 1 | .604 | 5th of 17 | 1 | 1 | .500 | Lost to New Zealand Warriors in Semi Final |
|
2024 | 12 | 12 | 0 | .500 | 8th of 17 | 0 | 1 | .000 | Lost to North Queensland Cowboys in Elimination Final |
| Total | 56 | 63 | 2 | .471 | 1 | 4 | .200 | |||
Controversy
[edit]On 10 February 2021, O'Brien was named as the person involved in an alleged incident at a Newcastle racecourse. It was alleged that O'Brien had the altercation in one of the toilet blocks at the racecourse and had to be ejected from the venue by security. One security guard spoke to the media about the incident saying “The coach was arrogant and belligerent and even used the old, ‘Don’t you know who I am?’ line when we escorted him out of the men’s room and told him to cool it".[11][12] This was later refuted by the Newcastle club in a statement which read "Reports alleging those Knights staff were intoxicated, disruptive and ejected from the venue are incorrect. This has been confirmed by NJC staff and independent eyewitnesses. Information gathered confirms all Knights representatives always acted professionally and appropriately, NJC has confirmed there were no incident reports recorded."[13]
References
[edit]- ^ "Adam O'Brien - Coaching Career - Summary". www.rugbyleagueproject.org.
- ^ "NRL 2019: Knights announce coach Adam O'Brien Newcastle Knights coach, Sydney Roosters". 2 September 2019.
- ^ a b "Adam O'Brien announced as new Newcastle Knights coach". National Rugby League. 2 September 2019.
- ^ Toohey, Barry (2 September 2019). "Knights confirm Roosters assistant Adam O'Brien as new coach". The Sydney Morning Herald.
- ^ "2019 NRL grand final final result, Sydney Roosters v Canberra Raiders score + meta description, Roosters v Raiders grand final match report, Sydney Roosters, Canberra Raiders, 2019, NRL, Telstra Premiership, how the match was won, Clive Churchill Medal, ANZ Stadium, October 6". National Rugby League. 6 October 2019.
- ^ "Is the Newcastle Knights hype train finally reaching its destination?". www.statsinsider.com.au.
- ^ "NRL 2020 - Rugby League Project". www.rugbyleagueproject.org.
- ^ "LOCKED IN | Adam O'Brien extends Knights deal". Newcastle Knights. 25 February 2021.
- ^ "Parramatta Eels defeat Newcastle Knights 28-20 in NRL elimination final". ABC News. 12 September 2021.
- ^ "Brutal reality Newcastle must accept before solving confidence-killing 'riddle'". www.nine.com.au.
- ^ "Newcastle Knights coach Adam O'Brien unveiled as NRL coach involved in alleged scuffle". www.foxsports.com.au.
- ^ "Club Statement: Adam O'Brien". www.newcastleknights.com.au.
- ^ Docherty, Alex (11 February 2021). "Newcastle rubbishes reports of Adam O'Brien's races altercation". Zero Tackle.