Newcastle Knights head coach Adam O'Brien may be safe in the Hunter for the time being amid the revelation that the club would need to pay him a full $2 million payout to sack him.
O'Brien's time in the Hunter has been a rocky one, although he has helped the side qualify for the finals in four of the last five years.
The last two of those seasons have seen the Knights put together second-half-of-the-year runs to fight their way into the top eight, with O'Brien reportedly hanging on by a thread at points in both of those seasons.
Kalyn Ponga's return from early-season injuries or concussions in both seasons seemed to be the trigger for Newcastle to climb the ladder in each of the last two years, but it was enough for O'Brien to lock a contract in until the end of 2027.
It has now been revealed by journalist Michael Carayannis on NRL 360 that there are no clauses in his deal allowing for the payout to be reduced.
"His contract is in full, I don't think there are any get-out clauses there. It runs until the end of 2027 which he inked last season and extended," Carayannis responded.
"So he'll get a full payout, yeah. That's off the back of making four finals in five years. But I just don't think they've got the cattle to compete."
The Knights haven't yet fielded any serious questions over the future of O'Brien, but there is little doubt the speculation and pressure is building with his side turning out a historically poor 60 points over their first 6 games of the year.
The Knights, regardless of payout, have been in a tricky salary cap position, but a host of departures at the end of this year, as well as Daniel Saifiti's exit before the year got underway, leave them in a far better spot heading into 2026.
Having already signed Dylan Brown as the club's new marquee player, O'Brien and the recruitment staff will still be out to add other key pieces while nurturing the club's incredibly junior talent base ahead of a potential turnaround in fortunes next year.
