Past Michael "Grassy" Knoll - delisted 2020

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Michael Knoll

Player Profile

Michael Knoll stamped a stunning rise from US college basketball to Australian rules football when the Sydney Swans snapped him up at the 2019 mid-season draft. The 205-centimetre, 103-kilogram ruckman played his first game of footy with the Box Hill Hawks in the VFL in 2017, before playing with Vermont’s reserves in the Eastern Football League in 2019. He then made the switch to the Swans from the South Adelaide Panthers in the SANFL. Knoll made solid progress in the NEAFL under the expert eye of Sydney assistant coach Dean Cox in 2019, and he’s on a mission to make his AFL debut in 2020.

Michael Knoll

DOB: 27 February 1993
DRAFT: 2018
RECRUITED FROM: Box Hill Hawks (VFL)/Vermont (Vic)/South Adelaide (SANFL)

 
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Goodesy along with some other AFL players could have played soccer at a good level. Very few soccer players could play Aussie Rules at a decent level.

Depends on what you mean as a 'good level',

professionally? lol no.
 

dosser

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Just had lunch with someone who knew Knoll from his basketball days. In his opinion, the reason he didn't progress further than he did was because he wasn't particularly fast. Apparently the other centres used to beat him from one end of the court to the other. Having said that, he said he has good skills, etc. and would be a reasonable tap ruck.
I'm thinking he may be a Nankervis type.
 

Kiama Chris

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Project player, but I like it. Seems to be in the same mould as Pyke in that he just wants to learn and improve and make that his focus. Surely we don't see him at AFL level in 2019 though?
BOG SANFL vs WAFL. Project player? Nuh uh. With Cox tutelage plus a consistent run in NEAFL he could be our #1 by the end of the season.
 

Kiama Chris

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Just had lunch with someone who knew Knoll from his basketball days. In his opinion, the reason he didn't progress further than he did was because he wasn't particularly fast. Apparently the other centres used to beat him from one end of the court to the other. Having said that, he said he has good skills, etc. and would be a reasonable tap ruck.
I'm thinking he may be a Nankervis type.
At least 7cm taller plus arms. May be our best recruit in a long time. Keen as mustard.
 

MC Bad Genius

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BOG SANFL vs WAFL. Project player? Nuh uh. With Cox tutelage plus a consistent run in NEAFL he could be our #1 by the end of the season.
Yeah, you're probably right. I still think he's pretty green despite playing a blinder in the interstate match. Hopefully he trains well and learns quickly!
 
Yeah, you're probably right. I still think he's pretty green despite playing a blinder in the interstate match. Hopefully he trains well and learns quickly!
Given Knol's time in college basketball I do not think he'll have any problems with a training load.
From the interviews he seems very keen to learn. :)
 

Horseswan2017

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Apparently he got cut from Box hill.... tall but 26 and looks clumsy... but who knows might be a bang and crash Ruck at the scg which horse wants... Sinclair is a forward really... sydney don’t use him probably... best Sinclair gets traded
 

Mick Oxlong

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Apparently he got cut from Box hill.... tall but 26 and looks clumsy... but who knows might be a bang and crash Ruck at the scg which horse wants... Sinclair is a forward really... sydney don’t use him probably... best Sinclair gets traded

That’s exactly what we’ll do immediately after we re-signed him!
 
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Knoll is not the Messiah. Given enough time he may well be a very good ruck, but that is not within a week of being drafted.

He needs to learn his craft more under better coaches, learn the game plan, learn who his team mates are and understand their playing style. He needs to form synergy with the whole playing group.

None of this happens in a week. He may become somewhat serviceable in the next few weeks but he will be a much more well rounded player in 6 months.

He is getting a 6 month head start on his preseason imo and we all need to be patient.
 

momentbymoment

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Knoll is not the Messiah. Given enough time he may well be a very good ruck, but that is not within a week of being drafted.

He needs to learn his craft more under better coaches, learn the game plan, learn who his team mates are and understand their playing style. He needs to form synergy with the whole playing group.

None of this happens in a week. He may become somewhat serviceable in the next few weeks but he will be a much more well rounded player in 6 months.

He is getting a 6 month head start on his preseason imo and we all need to be patient.
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Really confused about his change in role today. Basically was a full forward with only very short stints in the ruck. It’s as if the Swans discovered during midweek that he wasn’t as good as thought and reverted to Cameron as the main option.
 

Mick Oxlong

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Really confused about his change in role today. Basically was a full forward with only very short stints in the ruck. It’s as if the Swans discovered during midweek that he wasn’t as good as thought and reverted to Cameron as the main option.
Give him a break
 
Jul 20, 2001
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Very poor effort in kicking only 2. Like Ronke, should’ve kicked 10 apparently!

Nobody had said Ronke should have kicked a bag. I don’t think it’s huge to ask for us to expect players, particularly those that should be in the mix for AFL selection, to deliver more than 2 disposals and 0 tackles over 3 quarters of the game. The academy kids are doing better than that and most of them won’t make it!

As for Knoll, his work in the ruck is more important to his long term future and he looks a bit out of his depth at this stage. Plenty of time to do some work with Cox but if Sinclair went down next week, I’d be selecting Cameron (or maybe even select Reid as ruck for a short time, I don’t honestly trust Cameron either!!).

Wish Naismith could get his body together. Comfortably our best ruck (from hitouts point of view).
 

Tedeski

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Nobody had said Ronke should have kicked a bag. I don’t think it’s huge to ask for us to expect players, particularly those that should be in the mix for AFL selection, to deliver more than 2 disposals and 0 tackles over 3 quarters of the game. The academy kids are doing better than that and most of them won’t make it!

As for Knoll, his work in the ruck is more important to his long term future and he looks a bit out of his depth at this stage. Plenty of time to do some work with Cox but if Sinclair went down next week, I’d be selecting Cameron (or maybe even select Reid as ruck for a short time, I don’t honestly trust Cameron either!!).

Wish Naismith could get his body together. Comfortably our best ruck (from hitouts point of view).

I think Knoll is purely a development pick much like Pyke was. Absolutely nothing to lose with a bloke new to the game meaning he can still be taught how we go about it. Maybe the club just needs to see whether it is worth offering Cameron another contract & he needed to step it up. Who knows Masey but we obviously have time with Knoll as he is a free hit. We have to find out soon on whether we offer Cameron another contract or let him go.
 

Mick Oxlong

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Nobody had said Ronke should have kicked a bag. I don’t think it’s huge to ask for us to expect players, particularly those that should be in the mix for AFL selection, to deliver more than 2 disposals and 0 tackles over 3 quarters of the game. The academy kids are doing better than that and most of them won’t make it!

As for Knoll, his work in the ruck is more important to his long term future and he looks a bit out of his depth at this stage. Plenty of time to do some work with Cox but if Sinclair went down next week, I’d be selecting Cameron (or maybe even select Reid as ruck for a short time, I don’t honestly trust Cameron either!!).

Wish Naismith could get his body together. Comfortably our best ruck (from hitouts point of view).
That’s great that you think yourself some kind of selector in a social sense Masey but the fact is, you’re not. What you and I expect are most likely completely different to the club. What you may have see was 0 tackles and 2 kicks, what the club may have seen was marked improvement 3 goals and 5 tackles. With Knoll, he may well have been tasked with a different role where he actually was expected to stay forward for whatever reason. Who knows, the club wanted to see if he could rest forward and kick goals?
 
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