Coach Matthew Knights - worth giving another go

[Ron The Bear]

Something Essendon fans can’t admit by there club and it’s not even the most disgusting thing that club has done

Patrick Smith infamously renounced his support of Essendon over Knights' sacking.

"A tradition that began with my father must end. Sadly. It has become impossible to continue to support a club that acted so shamelessly. The manner in which administrations go about their business should be more important than success on the field. A winter of arrogant manipulation by Essendon means it is impossible to continue a family ritual. You cannot be concerned about what you no longer respect. I don't think my late father would feel betrayed. He would have found it unbearable to stand by the Bombers as well."

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/sp...l/news-story/511300d7a65fdda53d4de1122cffb79b

Say what you want about Patrick, but his judgement was uncannily correct.

 

[Bunk Moreland]

No different to Voss, well known lloyd helped by getting the players to be snakes because they wanted hird and higher ups all involved in that too. Has done better things since than voss has too, so why Voss such a candidate compared to knights?

Nice conspiracy theory.

He was a s**t coach at Essendon. Deal with it.

 

[RearNaked]

The only teams younger than 2009 Essendon to reach the finals since are 2010 Carlton (Ratten again) and 2013 Port in Hinkley's first year when the fitness guy had them running on water. These teams were way ahead of the development clock at the time.

Essendon could barely field a team in that final. A 20yo Hooker was the ruckman and they had to play the 19yo Irish rookie Quinn, among others. They were embarrassed on the night, but it was a commendable effort just to get there.

We had Bellchambers it was knights decision not to take a ruck He was playing Quinn all year the team had a terrible game plan if we didn’t win we’d always get pumped. Yes it was a young team mainly because he dropped all our older players much like Melbourne did under neeld he also played a 900 goal full forward on the wing for the likes of jay neagle

 

[ferrisb]

Patrick Smith infamously renounced his support of Essendon over Knights' sacking.

"A tradition that began with my father must end. Sadly. It has become impossible to continue to support a club that acted so shamelessly. The manner in which administrations go about their business should be more important than success on the field. A winter of arrogant manipulation by Essendon means it is impossible to continue a family ritual. You cannot be concerned about what you no longer respect. I don't think my late father would feel betrayed. He would have found it unbearable to stand by the Bombers as well."

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/sp...l/news-story/511300d7a65fdda53d4de1122cffb79b

Say what you want about Patrick, but his judgement was uncannily correct.

Jeez, if this was an actual thing.... Carlton would have no supporters left....

 

[Burzum]

Where do people invent this stuff from?

Lloyd and Hird aren’t even mates.

People make it up as a way to attack Essendon. He was a terrible coach for us, maybe he's better now but people don't need to rewrite history to push him as a future coaching candidate.

 

[Orange Agent]

Doesnt speak well publicly and doesnt come across as a strong leader that would make guys want to play for him. Game plan was shithouse and team selections were bizarre, coaches pet stuff, much like Bolton.

 

[DapperDon]

Guys FFS, he put Courtney Johns on Leon Davis, went into a final without a ruckman and used Nathan Lovett Murray, didn't have a defensive coaching bone in his body, but yeah he was hard done by, by the evil Lloyd and Watson and Hird and all the players Essendon ever had ever and all the Essendon players mums hated him and their dogs, and we all know dogs can pick out s**t people.

He was a ******* terrible match day coach (back then, no idea what he can do now), was a good development coach, I'll give him that.

 

[boncer34]

List was crap

Same list that went to finals after he was sacked?

Knights was dealt poorly be Essendon at the end, no argument. But he was still a s**t coach.

If he was any good he'd have been mentioned in any of the numerous jobs up for grabs in the past 9 years. He hasn't been.

Because he's s**t.

 

[DapperDon]

It’s not a conspiracy, your club is full of scum and runs like scum, deal with it

You know there are other things in life other than footy, go outside and chill out man.

Such hostility for something that happened almost 10 years ago

 

[dustysnecktattoo]

Same list that went to finals after he was sacked?

Knights was dealt poorly be Essendon at the end, no argument. But he was still a s**t coach.

If he was any good he'd have been mentioned in any of the numerous jobs up for grabs in the past 9 years. He hasn't been.

Because he's s**t.

Was that finals list under the influence of performance enhancers? Or did that come a year or two later, forgotten the time line but don’t really want to talk about that but made the thread to talk about knights getting a head coaching job at the top again. Feel like he ticks all the boxes with what he has done since as a coach at vfl and afl assistant

 

[dustysnecktattoo]

You know there are other things in life other than footy, go outside and chill out man.

Such hostility for something that happened almost 10 years ago

Spoken to the way you spoke to me, seems you need some fresh air as well, stick to the subject

 

[boncer34]

Was that finals list under the influence of performance enhancers? Or did that come a year or two later, forgotten the time line but don’t really want to talk about that but made the thread to talk about knights getting a head coaching job at the top again. Feel like he ticks all the boxes with what he has done since as a coach at vfl and afl assistant

Really? All you've done is pot Essendon.

 

[DapperDon]

Was that finals list under the influence of performance enhancers? Or did that come a year or two later, forgotten the time line but don’t really want to talk about that but made the thread to talk about knights getting a head coaching job at the top again. Feel like he ticks all the boxes with what he has done since as a coach at vfl and afl assistant

What's the matter Rory, your proper account banned again?

 

[Bunk Moreland]

It’s not a conspiracy, your club is full of scum and runs like scum, deal with it

It’s actually, by definition, a conspiracy theory.

Knights was a s**t coach. We were a joke in 2011, easily the easiest team in the league to score against. Teams poured it on. We had zero defensive structure.

What goes on at Essendon before and after he was there isn’t the issue being discussed. He was terrible, hence why no other club has considered him for a job since.

He’s probably a good assistant coach, but beyond that? Lol

 

[dustysnecktattoo]

Really? All you've done is pot Essendon.

All you do is pot knights , only one deserves the potting and that’s essendon

 

[dustysnecktattoo]

It’s actually, by definition, a conspiracy theory.

Knights was a s**t coach. We were a joke in 2011, easily the easiest team in the league to score against. Teams poured it on. We had zero defensive structure.

What goes on at Essendon before and after he was there isn’t the issue being discussed. He was terrible, hence why no other club has considered him for a job since.

He’s probably a good assistant coach, but beyond that? Lol

Far from terrible with what he had to work with

 

[Upgrayedd]

List was crap

Wasn't 7 win side. He meekly got outcoached on multiple occasions. Even at geelong he wasny much og a great tactics guy and the playing group wernt praising him. His sucess came from coaching a dominant teams seconds.

His free flowing unaccountable football style at Essendon didn't fly at Geelong VFL. Again nothing special about his ability. All accounts from pissing off the boys club to staying at a successful club for 6 years not challenging himself

I can't think of a more vanilla prospect.

He was better than his successor.
Tim Watson threw Knights' hat in the ring Monday night.
Said clubs would be mad if they weren't interviewing him.

Not hard when you get the entire playing list banned from a year. Knight would have to have actively sabotaged Essendon to take that mantle.

If i wanted an opinion of failed coaches Tim Watson would be on the top of my list.

 

[boncer34]

All you do is pot knights

You mean in a Knights thread all I do is talk about Knights?

What a ******* novel concept.

 

[pazza]

I honestly felt then as now as he was screwed by blokes on the field who hated the fact that because he was the reserves coach and wanted the club to change. The older blokes didn't want to change or felt the club needed it. The younger ones embraced his style of game. And for a while it worked. Bums on seats footy particularly the first 2 seasons.

The 3rd season it seemed he was being knifed from all angles. And it cost the club significantly financially to remove him.

Does he get another look? Yes.

 

[_Mike_]

All you do is pot knights , only one deserves the potting and that’s essendon

So why start as thread on Knights if that was your intention all along? Move on.

 

[Bunk Moreland]

Wasn't 7 win side. He meekly got outcoached on multiple occasions. Even at geelong he wasny much og a great tactics guy and the playing group wernt praising him. His sucess came from coaching a dominant teams seconds.

His free flowing unaccountable football style at Essendon didn't fly at Geelong VFL. Again nothing special about his ability. All accounts from pi**ing off the boys club to staying at a successful club for 6 years not challenging himself

I can't think of a more vanilla prospect.

Not hard when you get the entire playing list banned from a year. Knight would have to have actively sabotaged Essendon to take that mantle.

If i wanted an opinion of failed coaches Tim Watson would be on the top of my list.

The only people who seem to think Knights could coach are Richmond supporters. Go figure.

I don’t really get it, I don’t feel the need to invent scenarios in my head where Watson was a good coach.

 

[Loken]

Knights carries a stigma that in this day and age will ensure he never gets the top job.

He had 1 style of play only and that was all out attack. Today the most important style that coaches want to play is defense. Even when they have the ball they still want them to attack defensively most of the time.

Knights was challenged by the board to improve the defense of the team, which he refused to do. He said he would do it but there was no change at all.

We all know why he was sacked but let's not make out that he was not without fault and his biggest fault is a black mark against his name in todays footy.

 

[andrewb]

The only teams younger than 2009 Essendon to reach the finals since are 2010 Carlton (Ratten again) and 2013 Port in Hinkley's first year when the fitness guy had them running on water. These teams were way ahead of the development clock at the time.

Essendon could barely field a team in that final. A 20yo Hooker was the ruckman and they had to play the 19yo Irish rookie Quinn, among others. They were embarrassed on the night, but it was a commendable effort just to get there.

That's slightly incorrect.

Our ruck tandem was Hooker and Nathan Lovett-Murray because our selection committee thought that a 1.9m half back in the ruck and playing an Irish rookie who'd barely seen an oval ball would be better options than bringing a young Tom Bellchambers in to play on Ivan Maric.

We lost the hitouts 64 to 18 and got smashed in the clearances and copped a massive flogging.

Mind-numbing.

In 2010 we lost six matches by more than 10 goals and finished 14th.

 

[Ron The Bear]

In 2010 we lost six matches by more than 10 goals and finished 14th.

Actually five, four of which were in the back half of the season when speculation was rife, and during which Knights bizarrely conducted an interview with the Footy Show in an effort to shore up his job.

There was speculation on here in the pre-season that Essendon was lining up a replacement, which became public after the Anzac Day game in Round 5. Pretty sure this was confirmed after the fact - an early-season meeting at the Flower Drum involving all the main players? Pretty hard to perform while the club is undermining your best efforts.

Some Essendon supporters have conceded Knights was a patsy, a post-Sheedy stop-gap to perform the necessary list cull before he was replaced by Essendon people. But he was unexpectedly successful early which threw a spanner in the works.

 

[BOMBERS 4 LIFE!!!!]

I remember the countless times teams would go on a 5-6 goal run with Knights doing nothing in the coaches box to stem the bleeding.

When the board told him that he needs to improve the defence he told them to get stuffed he was a s**t coach.

If he was so good like Richmond fans claim he would have had another job by now.