Coach Matthew Knights - worth giving another go

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blitzer said:
We averaged 109 points against per game. It was pathetic. The game style was just rubbish that was why he was sacked. We were never ever going to have success with that style. Anyone who watched us knew it and the players did too, they gave up playing for Knights.

The next year under Hird we made finals (before Dank etc). Now we know how that turned out later on but it proved that with a more competent coach our list was capable of pretty quick improvement.

Again I would ask anyone defending Knights. Do you want him?
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Essendon in 2011 were barely any better than Essendon in 2009, both sides made finals with a weak win loss record and got flogged in the final
 
blitzer said:
We averaged 109 points against per game. It was pathetic. The game style was just rubbish that was why he was sacked. We were never ever going to have success with that style. Anyone who watched us knew it and the players did too, they gave up playing for Knights.

The next year under Hird we made finals (before Dank etc). Now we know how that turned out later on but it proved that with a more competent coach our list was capable of pretty quick improvement.

Again I would ask anyone defending Knights. Do you want him?
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Once the phrase "un-Essendon-like" was uttered (by Lloyd ?) about Essendon's style, he was cooked. It was a public declaration of war against the coach, intended to get the supporters offside.

Do we want him? Essendon supporters were asking this in late 2016 when Hardwick was struggling. I said I wouldn't be averse. Since then we've got the right people in to support Hardwick and obviously aren't in the market for a coach.

Geelong is probably the best-run club in the competition and Knights has been there for eight years. They're not a charity, they wouldn't have employed him this long if he was hopeless.
Upgrayedd said:
30% of the time it worked every time
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Essendon 2010 avg age 23.69 avg gms 68.8
Gold Coast 2019 avg age 23.85 avg gms 66.6

Do you think Gold Coast would be screaming for a priority pick if they'd won six games against the top nine? It was a young, developing team and Knights was cut no slack. In fact it was an ideal role for Hird to slip into, overseen by Thompson while on training wheels. As planned all along.

Knights was coincidentally the same age as Dew is now when he was sacked, not even 40. Very young for a coach. Essendon cut him off at the knees, and in a manner that ruined his reputation and cost him any chance of another role. At 48 and with vacancies open, it's now or never, but I don't think he'll be considered. He's damaged goods, illustrated by this thread (started by an Essendon supporter) mocking Geelong's appointment of Knights as VFL coach.

New Geelong VFL coach: Matthew Knights

Geelong won the VFL flag that year.
 
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Why wouldn't any club at least interview him if he put his hand up?

  • has senior coaching experience
  • has won a VFL flag
  • has worked as an assistant at Geelong, a well run club making regular finals appearances
  • has had eight years to improve his shortcomings
 
Trying to rewrite history to make Knights seem adequate as a senior coach or a victim is really odd. Essendon in 2010 was the least watchable Essendon team I've seen in almost three decades following the team. In two of the three seasons he coached Essendon had the league's worst defense. They simply hemorrhaged points game after game.

If Knights is to get another head coaching opportunity, and I consider that a very low possibility, then it will be entirely determined by his performance after leaving Essendon. There is little in his tenure at Essendon that points towards him having the capacity to be a successful AFL coach.
 
No ones trying to rewrite history, history is history, essendon stuffed up bad in relation to knights and that can’t be changed or re written
 
dustysnecktattoo said:
No ones trying to rewrite history, history is history, essendon stuffed up bad in relation to knights and that can’t be changed or re written
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lol ok

Knights was the next Clarkson, just mean old Essendon made him coach poorly then sacked him and no club has ever asked him to coach poorly for their club since.
 
LicoriceAllsorts said:
Voss went to finals and won. So he has done more than Knights at AFL level
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So did Tim Watson, so did Polly Farmer, so did Tony Shaw, so did Justin Leppitsch….so what's your point?
 

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dustysnecktattoo said:
No ones trying to rewrite history, history is history, essendon stuffed up bad in relation to knights and that can’t be changed or re written
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By hiring him? Too right.
 
Bunk Moreland said:
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
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So bad at coaching that Essendon extended his contract.
Only got sacked afterwards because he had to make way for Hird.
 
The reason Essendon supporters didn't want Matthew Knights is the same reason a lot of them want John Worsfold gone- because they are outsiders who never played for the club.

The Essendon fans wanted Damian Hardwick (a former player) instead of Knights. They want Hird, they wanted Mark Thompson.

There's something quite incestous about Esendon fans ONLY wanting coaches who played for the club, and it is narrow-minded, as I would argue that most of the flags won in the last thirty years were won by coaches who didn't play for the club they coached.

They also forget that Kevin Sheedy also never played at Essendon.
 
I liked what Matthew Knights said when he was appointed Geelong VFL coach.

He said that it was great to finally be at a club that is professionally run.
 
Catters 070911 said:
I liked what Matthew Knights said when he was appointed Geelong VFL coach.

He said that it was great to finally be at a club that is professionally run.
Click to expand...
Prove it
 
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