South Newcastle coach Andrew Ryan could be at the helm of the Lions until the end of 2026 after signing a multi-year extension with the resurgent Newcastle Rugby League club.
The former NRL, NSW and Australian representative was contracted to coach Souths until the end of the 2023 season but has agreed to a further two years with the option of a third.
The deal provides some certainty for the club and is a ringing endorsement for Ryan, who returned to Souths in the off-season following a stint at the Knights last year.
The 43-year-old, who first coached Souths across 2019-20, has the Lions second after 10 rounds and the club still has a game in hand.
It's a remarkable turnaround from last year, when Souths were running last before the competition was halted by COVID-19 and then ultimately abandoned.
"Whether or not last year was the year they needed, this group have been playing semi-final football and won competitions, quite a few of them," Ryan said.
"I'm not sure whether they needed to see the other end of it, but my approach coming in was I wanted to retain everyone that was here.
"I felt like they were always a good team.
"They're good mates, the spirit - they all hang out together all the time. So it was pretty easy for me to go, there you go - hang out and do stuff together and they turn up for each other on the field."
Souths have lost to only Wyong and Maitland this season and defeated every other team.
They beat Macquarie 26-16 at home on Sunday a week after the Scorpions toppled the then unbeaten league leaders Maitland.
Despite their success, Ryan believes Souths need to tighten their performances, ruing having to give the same half-time speech each week about "making errors and giving away penalties".
"We got towelled up by Maitland two weeks ago, so we definitely can't get too ahead of ourselves," he said.
"We were probably lucky to get the win [against Macquarie].
"From a defensive point of view, and a spirit point of view, I can't ask any more.
"But there's a lot of areas we can improve on.
"Maitland put the cleaners through us up there ... but it's a tight comp as well.
"The top six, seven teams - you have to keep ticking with the wins otherwise you can slip away."
On signing his new deal, Ryan hopes it will help keep others at the club involved.
"We're not going anywhere even if I'm coaching or not - my kids play juniors with Souths and we live in the area," Ryan, who played 291 NRL games with Parramatta and Canterbury before retiring at the end of 2011, said.
"I was super keen to stay on board and hopefully we can keep all the players and coaches around as well.
"I was already on for next year, and then they decided to put another two on with an option as well."
