The Knights have scored a coup by adding highly respected former Kiwi international Adam Blair to their coaching staff.
The club recently announced that Blair would be taking on a pathways role in 2025.
But Blair told Wide World of Sports on Sunday that his job would also see him assisting head coach Adam O’Brien with the Knights’ forwards.
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“I am still in Auckland and working out exactly what the job entails,” Blair said.
“But I am very keen to do wrestling coaching and other work with the forwards and have spoken to the club about that.
“AOB (O’Brien) and I go way back — he was on the coaching staff at Melbourne when I was playing and it will be great to link up with him again.
“I’ve been coaching the last two years at the Warriors in the SG Ball and NSW Cup and really enjoyed it.”
Blair was one of the most respected forwards of the modern era, playing over 300 games for the Storm, Broncos, and Wests Tigers — winning a premiership with Melbourne in 2009.
His other role as head of the Newcastle elite pathways players will also be crucial to the club, which has seen the likes of Latrell Mitchell, Nick Meaney, Jacob Kiraz, Mitch Barnett, Hudson Young and Joseph Tapine all walk away in recent years.
“You can’t keep every good kid and there are so many in the Hunter so it will be a real challenge,” Blair said.
“I’ve known (new recruitment boss) Peter O’Sullivan since I was 14 and he is very good at what he does.”