Current NRL Head of Football Brian Canavan is set to be unveiled as the Newcastle Knights new Director of Football.
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The Newcastle Herald can reveal Canavan, one of the game's most experienced administrators, will step down from his role at the NRL in the coming weeks and move to Newcastle to take charge of the club's football department.
His appointment, which will be officially announced by the Knights on Friday, follows the departure of the club’s former football general manager Darren Mooney a fortnight ago.
Knights CEO Phil Gardner wasted no time in coming up with a replacement and is understood to have head-hunted Canavan, who worked closely with the Wests Group boss during the NRL club’s ownership change and subsequent restructure.
When Mooney exited, Gardner said he wanted an experienced administrator who has been involved at club level in the NRL.
Canavan certainly fits that bill.
He spent almost two decades at the Sydney Roosters in roles including CEO and has been a special project consultant for both the ARL and the NRL.
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Canavan also holds a level 4 coaching certificate and a post graduate certificate in sports medicine.
He had a brief four month stint in 2016 as chief operating officer at the Gold Coast Titans before he was enticed back to Sydney by NRL CEO Todd Greenberg to become the organisation’s Head of Football, responsible for pathways, participation and game development.
It’s understood the challenge of leading the Knights out of the doldrums and back to becoming an on-field NRL powerhouse again is the chief reason why Canavan has accepted the job.
While he is unlikely to officially start in the role until at least the middle of next month, Canavan met with coach Nathan Brown over coffee in Cronulla last Sunday morning to get the ball rolling.
He won’t have a hands on role in either coaching or recruitment but will oversee all the various football departments with all staff reporting to him.
Sport: Newcastle Knights
Canavan’s appointment continues the sweeping changes in personnel at the club following the end of the Knights’ 2018 campaign.
New chief commercial officer Ross Smart starts on Monday while the High Performance Unit has been revamped and will be headed by new Warriors recruit Balin Cupples, who replaces Bulldogs-bound Tony Ayoub in the position.
Alex McKinnon has also returned to the club in a part-time recruitment role to assist Troy Pezet while Brown will have a new assistant coach in current Tongan head coach Kristian Woolf.
