Michael Cheika emerges as shock candidate for Knights coaching job

Former Wallabies coach Michael Cheika has emerged as an unlikely Newcastle coaching candidate as club officials finalise a shortlist of options to replace outgoing coach Adam O’Brien.

O’Brien will coach the Knights for the 145th and final time against Parramatta at CommBank Stadium on Sunday. The club has tasked chairman Geoff Coburn, board member Tony Price, incoming chief executive Peter Parr, incoming director of football Chris James and former premiership-winning coach Michael Hagan with finding the club’s next coach.

Sources not authorised to speak publicly have told this masthead that the club has reached out to Cheika to gauge his interest in the role. The conversation was a chance for both parties to determine whether they wanted to proceed to the next stage, which includes a formal interview.

It is likely that will happen given two touted replacements for O’Brien, Leeds coach Brad Arthur and Hull KR mentor Willie Peters, are committed to their Super League teams as they vie for a premiership.

Cheika is likely to join a list of candidates that includes Roosters assistant and former Titans coach Justin Holbrook, Newcastle assistant Blake Green, Dragons assistant Dean Young, former Sharks coach and Tigers assistant John Morris and former Dragons coach Paul McGregor.

Cheika has made no secret of his interest in jagging an NRL head coaching job after finishing up his commitments with rugby club Leicester. Still committed to coaching Lebanon at the next Rugby League World Cup, the 58-year-old has been endorsed by league Immortal Andrew Johns.

“I would love to see you as a head coach – I think you’d nail it – but in the right group with the right support staff in the front office and people around you,” Johns told Cheika when the latter appeared as a guest in last week’s episode of the Channel Nine program Freddy and The Eighth.

Asked about his ambitions to make his mark in the 13-man game on the show, Cheika said: “I think that challenge, if you think about it, hasn’t really been met.

“Alan Jones had a crack at it way back. It hasn’t been done with success. Many league coaches have come over to rugby and been successful there – maybe not as head coaches, although I think they could.

“To master that challenge, especially being an Aussie kid where league is such a big sport and I grew up playing the sport, I think it would be a huge challenge. I’ve been back here now for maybe six weeks or so, getting my feet on the ground and deciding what I’m gonna get up to next.”

One of the biggest challenges for Newcastle’s next clipboard holder will be how to extract the best value from the club’s $13 million, 10-year investment in Dylan Brown. The Kiwi international will make his final appearance for Parramatta in Sunday’s clash against his next employer, Newcastle, at CommBank Stadium.

Cheika conceded that some NRL clubs would view him as a risk, given most of his experience is in rugby union. However, he felt he could connect with league players if given a chance.

“I’d push them to whatever’s required to win, because that’s the objective,” he said during the week.

“You’re gonna be talking to a dressing room of 30-odd people and there could be seven or eight different personality traits in there. You’ve got to try and code your messages so that they all understand in the different ways people think.

“Sometimes you’ve got to go hard and sometimes you’ve got to give a cuddle – but at all costs, they are your team.”

Johns’ brother, former Newcastle playmaker Matthew, has publicly stated that Cheika and Roosters NRLW coach John Strange both warranted an interview for the post.

NRL is Live and Free on Channel 9 & 9Now