Newcastle Knights coach Adam O'Brien will reportedly lock up either a two or three-year extension with the club.
At one point last year, O'Brien appeared to be fighting for his future, with the club reportedly moving towards terminating his contract.
That came with the Knights looking a likely bottom-four finisher in the middle of the season, however, the men from the Hunter had one of the all-time turnarounds to parachute into the final.
O'Brien is set to be rewarded for the club's charge into the top eight and knockout rugby league, where they picked up a thrilling win against the Canberra Raiders in an elimination final, before losing a semi-final in Auckland against the New Zealand Warriors.
The Newcastle Herald are reporting that O'Brien will re-sign with the Knights for either two or three years, with it previously being understood that negotiations had been ongoing since the end of the 2023 campaign.
"It could be a three-year deal," Gardner told the Newcastle Herald.
"He's contracted for 2024, and we could re-sign him for an extra three, with the right steps and stairs and termination clauses and those sort of things in it [the contract].
"Depending on how it ends up, it could be either two or three."
While the Knights could opt to be hesitant on the future of their coach given a single run of success, the club believe he is the right man for the job, and to develop the next generation of the club.
O'Brien, who adds a pair of arriving Englishman to his squad in Kai Pearce-Paul and Will Pryce for 2024, has already been able to re-sign Jacob Saifiti, and all reports suggest Bradman Best will be joining him long-term in the Hunter shortly.
That leaves Newcastle with the nucleus of the side which made the finals in 2023 together as they aim to avoid the same slow start that hampered their campaign.