Newcastle Knights coach Adam O’Brien has revealed it took all of sixty seconds over a quiet beer with former halfback Mitch Pearce to realise his days in the Hunter had come to an end.

The veteran playmaker was released by the Knights to take up a deal with Catalans in France at the end of 2021.

“It took me 60 seconds to realise that (Pearce leaving for France) was the right thing for him and the right thing for us as a club,” O’Brien told The Daily Telegraph’s Nick Walshaw.

“When he came over to my house, we just sat on the back deck with a couple of beers. And after that first minute of talking, I could completely understand where he was coming from. I remember thinking at the time, ‘If this was my young bloke, I’d want him to go too’.

“But the thing I really liked, Pearcey said if we really wanted him to stay, then he would just realign his thinking and get on with it.”

Meanwhile O’Brien has conceded his side has failed to inject superstar Kalyn Ponga enough into games and will use the Queensland State of Origin utility a whole lot more in 2022.