Adam O'Brien (rugby league coach)

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).

For the English rugby league footballer, see Adam O'Brien.

Adam O'Brien
Personal information
Born (1977-10-26) 26 October 1977
Goulburn, New South Wales, Australia
Coaching information
Club
Years Team Gms W D L W%
2020– Newcastle Knights 96 44 2 50 46
Source: [1]
As of 16 September 2023

He was previously an assistant coach at the Melbourne Storm and the Sydney Roosters.

Coaching career

Melbourne Storm

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

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

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]

Head Coaching Statistics
TeamYearRegular SeasonFinals
WonLostTiesWin %FinishWonLostWin %Result
2020 1181.5757th of 1601.000Lost to South Sydney Rabbitohs in Elimination Final
2021 12120.5007th of 1601.000Lost to Parramatta Eels in Elimination Final
2022 6180.25014th of 16———Missed Finals
Total29381.43402.000

Controversy

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".[10][11] 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."[12]

References
  1. "Adam O'Brien - Coaching Career - Summary". www.rugbyleagueproject.org.
  2. "NRL 2019: Knights announce coach Adam O'Brien Newcastle Knights coach, Sydney Roosters". 2 September 2019.
  3. "Adam O'Brien announced as new Newcastle Knights coach". National Rugby League. 2 September 2019.
  4. Toohey, Barry (2 September 2019). "Knights confirm Roosters assistant Adam O'Brien as new coach". The Sydney Morning Herald.
  5. "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.
  6. "Is the Newcastle Knights hype train finally reaching its destination?". www.statsinsider.com.au.
  7. "NRL 2020 - Rugby League Project". www.rugbyleagueproject.org.
  8. "LOCKED IN | Adam O'Brien extends Knights deal". Newcastle Knights. 25 February 2021.
  9. "Parramatta Eels defeat Newcastle Knights 28-20 in NRL elimination final". ABC News. 12 September 2021.
  10. "Newcastle Knights coach Adam O'Brien unveiled as NRL coach involved in alleged scuffle". www.foxsports.com.au.
  11. "Club Statement: Adam O'Brien". www.newcastleknights.com.au.
  12. Docherty, Alex (11 February 2021). "Newcastle rubbishes reports of Adam O'Brien's races altercation". Zero Tackle.
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