Personal information | ||||||||||||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Born | Goulburn, New South Wales, Australia | 26 October 1977|||||||||||||||||||||
Coaching information | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||||||
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.
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]
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]
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]
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 |
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]
The Canberra Raiders are an Australian professional rugby league football club based in the national capital city of Canberra, Australian Capital Territory. They have competed in Australasia's elite rugby league competition, the National Rugby League (NRL) premiership since 1982. Over this period the club has won three premierships out of six Grand Finals, the last one played being the 2019 NRL Grand Final, resulting in a 14-8 controversial loss to the Sydney Roosters. Canberra currently have the second longest active premiership drought in the NRL totalling 30 years. The Raiders' current home ground is Canberra Stadium in Bruce. Previously, the team played home matches at Seiffert Oval in Queanbeyan, New South Wales, with the move to the Canberra Stadium in Bruce taking place in 1990. The official symbol for the Canberra Raiders is the Viking. The Viking, also a mascot at Raiders' games, is known as Victor the Viking.
The Newcastle Knights are an Australian professional rugby league team based in Newcastle, New South Wales that competes in the National Rugby League (NRL) premiership. Playing in red and blue, the Knights joined the top-tier competition in 1988, 79 years after the previous Newcastle based team, the Newcastle Rebels had departed the Sydney competition with the formation of a separate league competition based in the Newcastle region.
Ricky John Stuart is an Australian professional rugby league football coach who is the head coach of the Canberra Raiders in the National Rugby League (NRL) and a former rugby league footballer who played as a halfback in the 1980s, 1990s and 2000s.
Jason Taylor is an Australian professional rugby league football coach and a former professional rugby league footballer who played as a halfback in the 1990s and 2000s.
Jared Waerea-Hargreaves is a New Zealand professional rugby league footballer who plays as a prop for the Sydney Roosters in the National Rugby League (NRL) and New Zealand at international level.
Blake Ferguson is a former professional rugby league footballer.
Trent Robinson is an Australian professional rugby league coach who is the head coach of the Sydney Roosters in the National Rugby League (NRL) and a former professional rugby league footballer.
Bradley Arthur is a professional rugby league coach who is the head coach of Leeds Rhinos in the Super League.
Isaac Liu is a professional rugby league footballer who recently played as a lock and prop forward for the Gold Coast Titans in the National Rugby League (NRL) and New Zealand at international level.
Joseph Tapine is a New Zealand professional rugby league footballer who captains and plays as a prop or lock for the Canberra Raiders in the National Rugby League (NRL), and for New Zealand and the New Zealand Māori at international level.
Jackson Hastings is a Great Britain international rugby league footballer who plays as a halfback for the Newcastle Knights in the National Rugby League (NRL).
Adam Elliott is an Australian professional rugby league footballer who plays as a lock and second-row forward for the Newcastle Knights in the NRL.
Victor Derrick Radley is an England international rugby league footballer who plays as a lock for the Sydney Roosters in the NRL. He won back-to-back NRL premierships with the Roosters in 2018 and 2019.
Enari Tuala is an Australian professional rugby league footballer who last played as a winger or centre for the Newcastle Knights in the National Rugby League (NRL).
Matt Ikuvalu is an Australian professional rugby league footballer who plays as a winger or centre for the Catalans Dragons in the Super League.
Emre Guler is a rugby league footballer who plays as a prop for the Canberra Raiders in the National Rugby League (NRL).
Tom Starling is an Australian professional rugby league footballer who plays as a hooker for the Canberra Raiders in the National Rugby League (NRL).
Corey Allan is an Australian professional rugby league footballer who plays as a wing, fullback and centre for the St. George Illawarra Dragons in the National Rugby League (NRL).
Viliami Penisini is a Tonga international rugby league footballer who plays as a centre for the Parramatta Eels in the National Rugby League (NRL).
The 2022 Newcastle Knights season was the 35th in the club's history. Coached by Adam O'Brien and co-captained by Jayden Brailey and Kalyn Ponga, they competed in the NRL's 2022 Telstra Premiership, finishing the regular season in 14th place.