Get to know our Director of Football Peter Parr

Having grown up in Newcastle, highly respected rugby league administrator Peter Parr returned home to join the nib Newcastle Knights in mid October.

Taking up the role of Director of Football, Parr oversees the entire football operations bringing a wealth of experience and knowledge to the Club.

On the KNIGHTS // HQ Podcast, we got to know our Director of Football a little bit more including what it was like growing up in the steel city.

"I often say to people when I think of my childhood, I smile straightaway. I grew up in Stockton, which was a wonderful little community to grow up in," Parr said on the KNIGHTS // HQ Podcast.

"Typical of a lot of people my age, I played footy in the winter and cricket in the summer... I loved it.

"Even in my adult life, I played cricket for Stockton. I moved over to Cooks Hill and played football for South Newcastle, but growing up in Stockton and around Newcastle was something I really enjoyed.

"I was always on the hill on a Sunday afternoon watching the Knights play.

"I love everything that teams sport brings; having your mates back, getting to know people, winning and losing together and some of my great sporting memories have been playing cricket for Stockton or football for South Newcastle."

Parr won two premierships with Souths Newcastle in the late 80's and says he will be a regular at Townson Oval when the local rugby league competition resumes.

The Novocastrian ventured into coaching and administration soon after taking up roles with the former NRL clubs, Western Reds and Adelaide Rams, before joining the Brisbane Broncos in 1999.

He was a part of a premiership winning organisation with the Broncos in 2000 before heading north to join the North Queensland Cowboys in what was to become a 21-year stint.

In various roles such as CEO, Football Manager and Director of Football, Parr was a major contributor to the Cowboys system and helped steer the club towards success.

The Cowboys won the competition in 2015 and had two other Grand Final appearances in 2005 and 2017.

Our new Director of Football spoke about his philosophy towards the game and his goal for the red and blue.

"Skill level is one thing, some people are blessed with skill, others acquire it. But I think everybody can understand you can get beat by a better team," Parr continued.

"I think people, especially in this town, want to see a team that competes and competes hard.

"That is something that the early Knights teams were all about.

"My goal is to make sure that the teams ultimately I will be responsible for in the coming years, with Adam (O'Brien) as the Head Coach, we want to instil a culture that the first thing we make sure we do is compete and compete on every play."

Parr also shared some of the values that he will look to build at the Club and his key pillars on what he looks for in a successful organisation.

"First of all you need good people and the first thing I look for is good people," Parr said.

"If I go back to Stockton Cricket Club or Souths Newcastle, that's not at this level, but it's still the same principle.

"Your other pillar has to be around your systems, about how everything operates and to make sure people have the right resources to be able to do their jobs properly.

"You (also) need some talent, no doubt about it. 

"I'd like to think that what I've learnt over the years is if your thought is for somebody else, you're going to be ok.

"We want to have an environment where your first thought is not about yourself, your first thought is for your teammate, or what's best for the team or the Club."

Listen to the full interview HERE with our Director of Football including stories from the Grand Final winning night with the Cowboys, his role with the NSW Blues and his vision for the Knights moving forward.

Listen and subscribe on newcastleknights.com.au, Apple, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts and don't forget to leave a review!