‘I might not be your coach after this’: Inside Brown’s departure
On Monday afternoon, before the meeting that would seal his fate, Newcastle Knights coach Nathan Brown bumped into senior players Mitchell Pearce and David Klemmer.
“I’m about to have a meeting with Phil Gardner,” Brown told them, referring to the Knights chief executive. “I may not be your coach after it.”
A few hours later, Brown’s prophecy had come true, although in truth he had gone into that meeting knowing this would be his last season as coach.
Brown had seen the writing on the wall in another meeting, which occurred last week before the match against the Cowboys.
Gardner informed him that an end-of-season review was coming and he laid out the reasons why.
He and his board had been concerned about the events of the past month or so after the Knights’ finals hopes fell off a cliff. They’d won six straight to nail down a top-eight spot. Not too much later they lost six in a row.
Just as disturbing had been Brown’s rationale when asked by the press to explain it, admitting he should have rested his five Origin players.
There was the messy business involving centre Jesse Ramien. Brown had told him he didn’t have a future at the club, dumped him from the NRL side — and then watched on as Manly flogged his side 30-6 in a match the Knights had to win.
There was also the inescapable fact that Brown had a roster that included Pearce, Klemmer and the game’s most dynamic player, Kalyn Ponga. This wasn’t a side that should be creeping into the eight but knocking on the front door of the top four.
Meanwhile, in the background, exterior forces were in the ear of Gardner and other directors, telling them there were better options out there ready to do the job.
So, when Brown met with Gardner again on Monday, the no-bullshit former Dragons hooker from the tiny town of Maclean on the NSW Northern Rivers, took control of the situation.
“I’ll make it easy for you,” he said. “Let me coach out the rest of the season and I’ll go after that.”
With his side coming off a 42-6 thumping of the Cowboys, and still in mathematical contention for the finals, it might seem like a weird play — but it’s a smart one.
Brown leaves with his head held high and his reputation reasonably intact. He also avoids the embarrassment of being dumped in the off-season following a brutal review.
Should the Knights reach the finals, he’ll be at the front queue when a coach gets sacked early next year.
But his sudden departure surprises.
When the Knights lost their first five games, and the calls for Brown to go stirred, the board stood firm.
The club was still recovering from the Nathan Tinkler apocalypse when Brown became coach in 2016. “This will get worse before it gets better,” he told the interim board put in place by the NRL.
When the Wests Group bought the club on November 1, 2017, it promised stability. They weren’t keen on sacking the coach less than two years into their ownership, and the feeling was Brown would, on that count alone, survive.
