Newcastle Knights CEO Phil Gardner reaffirms support for struggling coach Adam O'Brien

O'Brien has come under scrutiny this year after Newcastle's dramatic fall from top-four hopefuls to wooden spoon candidates.

Having finished seventh in both his first two seasons at the helm, Newcastle are languishing in 14th position with six games to play.

They have conceded more points than any team in the competition this year (498), scored the second-fewest (274) and have the worst points differential (minus-224).

They are four points clear of last position, but back-to-back games against Canterbury (home) and Wests Tigers (away) are likely to have a huge bearing on whether they can avoid the ignominy of running last for the first time since 2017.

Gardner said after Newcastle were hammered 50-2 by Melbourne on May 1 that "the coach is under no pressure whatsoever", and he reiterated those sentiments this week.

"We're very supportive of the football brains trust. We won't be changing the head coach," Gardner told the Newcastle Herald.

"Adam's position is certainly in no jeopardy.

"He is as much a victim of circumstances as anybody.

"But like everybody, it's about performance, and we do need to do better with what we've got."

O'Brien is under contract for two more seasons.

After last week's 42-12 trouncing from Sydney Roosters - their 13th loss in 18 games this season - Knights coaching consultant Andrew Johns said on Channel Nine's Sunday Footy Show he thought "it's pretty obvious there needs to be a cleanout of the roster".

In particular, Johns said Newcastle needed to recruit "some class" in the halves, although he acknowledged there were limited options available.

Gardner argued that the Knights had a better roster than their results would suggest.

They have eight players on their books with State of Origin experience - three of whom have played Test matches for Australia - as well as the likes of Jayden Brailey, Mitch Barnett, Lachlan Fitzgibbon, Dominic Young and Bradman Best.

They have already signed Jack Hetherington (Canterbury) and Adam Elliott (Canberra) for next season.

"There's certainly enough talent in the squad," Gardner said.

He pointed to a host of setbacks the Knights have endured in 2022, including the departure of playmaker Mitchell Pearce, a "rolling mass of injuries" that sidelined key players, in particular hooker Brailey, and a pre-season disrupted by two outbreaks of COVID-19.

"It's very hard to judge the individuals on what has happened," he said.

"And once they started to produce some poor performances, confidence became a factor, as you have seen.

"We're not making excuses, because we need to deal with it all better. But these are simply statements of fact."

Brailey said this week O'Brien was "without a doubt" the man to get the Knights back on track.

"I can tell you on behalf of all the players, he has got our backing every day of the week," he said.

"He is the man for the next 10 years ... we love him.

"We've just got to turn up for him and play better footy for him, because he is doing everything he can."

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