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Johns: The question that the Knights must ask their new coach
Nicholas Quinlan • September 5th, 2025 5:38 pm
Matty Johns wants to see his Newcastle Knights during their coaching search ask one particular question to help determine who would make for the best fit.
With Adam O’Brien set to depart following their clash with Parramatta on Sunday, attention will slowly but surely turn to finding their next head coach.
The favourites Justin Holbrook and Blake Green are still in the running for the job after Hull KR coach Willie Peters pulled out of the role, while others, such as Adrian Lam, have put their hand up for the role.
Regardless of who ends up getting the job, Johns wants to see the Knights ask one question of their candidates, which will give them the best insight into who they are.
“What’s really important on a selection committee?” Johns said on SEN’s Morning Glory with Matty Johns.
“You can look at resumes, you can do all this stuff. But you have to ask the right questions.
“If I was in the interview process, I would do the interview, conduct it, talk resumes, talk all this sort of stuff.
“And as they are about to get up to go away when they are nice and relaxed, you say, ‘Listen, before you go. Fletcher Sharpe, Dylan Brown, Kalyn Ponga. What are you going to do (to solve it)?
“Or we’re short on middles, really, really short on middles. When we come up against a great pack of forwards and we’re going to have a pack full of young blokes, how are we going to beat them?
“You have to see the problems that you are going to have in the next 12 months to two years and say, 'right oh, you solve them for me.'”
This was somewhat inspired by the approach the Knights took when they hired their inaugural coach, Allan McMahon, over Ron Willey back in 1988, with Johns telling the story.
“Ron had all the runs on the board,” Johns explained.
“He’d been a great coach for a long time, and Macca (McMahon) was just emerging.
“Ron Willey was probably the favourite, and old Allan Bell and a couple of people, smart old football guys on the panel.
“And the last question both men were asked separately. As they were ready to walk out, ‘Okay, question for you. Tomorrow we are going to play the best pack in the competition; we are going to play the Canterbury Bulldogs. They have got an international pack; we’ve got an understrength pack full of just young blokes, how are we going to beat them?’
“Ron Willey’s response was, ‘I’m going to get up on Sunday morning, I’m going to hop in my car and drive to church and say a prayer’.
“Allan McMahon’s response was,
"We’re not going to try to beat them with muscle.
"What we are going to do is bring our outside backs, all of those young fast blokes through the middle, run from dummy-half, no errors.
"We’re going to kick long, chase hard, defend our hearts outs, and we’ll see how far that takes us.
“And Macca got the job.”
The Knights' coaching search will continue with an announcement expected in the coming weeks.
