The Newcastle Knights have appointed New Zealand assistant and Maori All Stars coach Adam Blair to a pathways role as the club moves to sharpen its focus on junior development.
Blair, the former Storm, Tigers, Broncos and Warriors forward who played 331 NRL games, will start at the Knights in coming months as pathways coaching director.
The role is a newly created position, one of two that have essentially replaced the head of pathways role previously held by Michael Dobson, who will be NSW Cup coach next season.
It comes after the Knights opted to not replace Rory Kostjasyn - a former assistant to NRL coach Adam O'Brien - in a move Parr described as "re-channelling our resources".
"We don't have a head of pathways, as such, anymore. We've split it into two," Parr told the Newcastle Herald.
"We've been pretty clear for a while now that we believe the pathways are the best way to ensure sustained success for the club over the long term.
"From the board down, we're aligned to being a development club.
"With Rory's departure, we decided to go with just two assistant coaches in Brian McDermott and Blake Green, and decided to invest more in our pathways.
"Matt Nicoll will take a full-time role as pathways academy coach, and then Adam will come on as pathways coaching director."
Blair, who played 51 Tests for New Zealand, has been involved in youth coaching at the Warriors since retiring in 2020 and took over as head coach of the Maori All Stars side this year.
He is an assistant to new Kiwis coach Stacey Jones through the Pacific Championships, which begin Friday.
The 38-year-old was initially recommended by Newcastle's head of recruitment Peter O'Sullivan, who has an association with Blair from his time at the Warriors.
"I couldn't have been more impressed with his philosophies around pathways and junior development," Parr said of Blair.
"He's just the sort of guy we were looking for.
"He's played over 300 NRL games and over 50 Tests.
"He has an incredible knowledge of what it takes to be an NRL player.
"You don't have his record without knowing what's required from a skill, physical and knowledge point of view.
"He'll have to work with a number of people in the club, in particular 'Sully', because our talent identification and junior recruitment is going to be a real focal point for us going forward.
"We've got alignment from the board down that we want to be a development club and develop our own players. This appointment will help us do that."
Dobson has replaced Warriors-bound Ronald Griffiths.
Nicoll will continue as Newcastle's SG Ball (under-19s) coach.
Kostjasyn has joined the Dolphins.
Blair's appointment has further significance given the ever-growing number of players who have Pacific Islander backgrounds.
About half of all contracted NRL players have Pasifika or Maori heritage.
Parr said he had no issue with Blair continuing as Maori coach for the annual NRL All Stars fixture.
Two Newcastle players - Phoenix Crossland and Leo Thompson - were picked for the Kiwis last week.
New Zealand don't feature in the opening week of the Pacific Championships. They host Australia on October 27 in Christchurch and Tonga in Auckland on November 2.
