Newcastle Knights coach Adam O'Brien has reportedly been assured he will remain in charge of the club for the 2024 season.
O'Brien, who took over the Knights at the start of the 2020 season following a stint as an assistant coach at the Sydney Roosters that ended with an ugly exit, has struggled to get the Knights to excel.
Despite a pair of finals appearances in his first two seasons in the Hunter with seventh-placed finishes and a pair of Week 1 finals exits, the Knights finished 14th last season and have spent much of 2023 in the bottom half of the ladder.
Something of a late-season resurgence has seen Newcastle win four games on the trot against the Canterbury Bulldogs, Wests Tigers, Melbourne Storm and Canberra Raiders, with the club now just a single point out of the top eight.
They will still likely need to win at least four of their final five games to make the finals given some teams around them still have byes up their sleeve, but O'Brien may have done enough to secure his future, with Channel 9s Danny Weidler reporting the club have no plans to change coach.
LATEST: @NRLKnights officials say that itโs certain Adam OโBrien will be coach next year. He was told that at a meeting this morning. @9NewsSyd @NRLonNine
— Danny Weidler (@Danny_Weidler) July 30, 2023
That comes after O'Brien has been rumoured as under pressure for the best part of 18 months. Following the axing of St George Illawarra Dragons coach Anthony Griffin and Gold Coast Titans boss Justin Holbrook earlier this year, it was widely believed O'Brien may have been the next coach to go.
It was a reported meeting with Holbrook which sparked the rumour mill into overdrive, with The Sydney Morning Herald reporting the Knights have recently met with the former Titans' mentor.
Holbrook was widely respected by his playing group on the Gold Coast before being turfed for the arrival of former Manly Sea Eagles coach Des Hasler. That is evidenced in the fact David Fifita and Tino Fa'asuamaleaui both had clauses in their contracts allowing them to leave Robina should Holbrook have been let go.
The report had suggested that O'Brien's management wanted to talk about a contract extension beyond the end of 2024 with the Knights, however, despite the club suggesting he will coach next year, they weren't prepared to go that far.
They have, however, extended assistant coach Rory Kostjaysn, although there is talk Blake Green will leave the club to take a spot vacated at the Manly Sea Eagles by Shane Flanagan's appointment to the Dragons' head coaching job.
