Knighta on SEN (21st May)

[The_Young_Gun]

Matty Knights was on SEN this morning with Morning Glory.

He came on after the 8 o'clock news and told the guys of SEN how the club was doing.

He firstly Talked about how we had been struggling the past few weeks and that our fasted paced footy had dropped off a bit.
He talked about the players that we'd build around for the future and named:

Daniher
Myers
Hislop
Lonergan
Houli
Jetta (Correct me if I'm wrong, there might be more)

He talked about our few past training sessions and said last week was the best lot of training sessions he ever had, he also talked about how Kathy Freeman had visited the club and had taught the players her philosophy's on life and her philosophy's on running.

He went on about how after every game, the following morning the guys (specifically our younger guys) would always walk through the door with a smile on their faces.

He had news on Scotty Lucas and said that Lucas is eager to getting back into the side, he said Lucas was aiming for the Adelaide match and Matty Knights also said Gumbleton would come back a week after Lucas.

Matty also told the SEN boys that he has been focusing his coaching on only our Offence and Attacking roles (As I predicted). He said he hasn't focused our training sessions on defence at all, but also commented that a priemership side must have a good defence to be successful, meaning he will definitly not be slacking off when it comes to developing our guys to their defencve roles.

In the end he says he loves the club, and that the club are 100% behind him, in what he's doing with the club.

 

[#10 Tough As Nails]

Good Good Good

 

[evs05]

Matty also told the SEN boys that he has been focusing his coaching on only our Offence and Attacking roles (As I predicted). He said he hasn't focused our training sessions on defence at all

this is what worries me. i have never known a coach to have taught things this way. what makes him think that the players can't cope with learning both attacking and defensive aspects at the same time?

the worst thing is that our since round 3 we are not very attacking at all. all his time is being put into our attack and we are hopeless going inside 50.

 

[fishguts]

And also since round 3, we have been decimated with injuries to players vital to the intial succes of this game plan.

 

[StealthBomber]

Matty Knights was on SEN this morning with Morning Glory.

He came on after the 8 o'clock news and told the guys of SEN how the club was doing.

He firstly Talked about how we had been struggling the past few weeks and that our fasted paced footy had dropped off a bit.
He talked about the players that we'd build around for the future and named:

Daniher
Myers
Hislop
Lonergan
Houli
Jetta (Correct me if I'm wrong, there might be more)

He talked about our few past training sessions and said last week was the best lot of training sessions he ever had, he also talked about how Kathy Freeman had visited the club and had taught the players her philosophy's on life and her philosophy's on running.

He went on about how after every game, the following morning the guys (specifically our younger guys) would always walk through the door with a smile on their faces.

He had news on Scotty Lucas and said that Lucas is eager to getting back into the side, he said Lucas was aiming for the Adelaide match and Matty Knights also said Gumbleton would come back a week after Lucas.

Matty also told the SEN boys that he has been focusing his coaching on only our Offence and Attacking roles (As I predicted). He said he hasn't focused our training sessions on defence at all, but also commented that a priemership side must have a good defence to be successful, meaning he will definitly not be slacking off when it comes to developing our guys to their defencve roles.

In the end he says he loves the club, and that the club are 100% behind him, in what he's doing with the club.

Yeah because our defensive game doesn't need any attention Isn't GOD in charge of defence? Shouldn't Knights be focusing on ALL of our requirements in tandem with our other coaches? Poor statement if you ask me....

 

[The_Young_Gun]

I've tried looking for the podcast but SEN dont seem to update their list that much....

 

[Big Scottknowsall]

And also since round 3, we have been decimated with injuries to players vital to the intial succes of this game plan.

....so change it.

 

[fishguts]

....so change it.

We did against Sydney. We were within 12 points and it was working until we collapsed like a deck of cards.

 

[LemmingMaster]

I was going to start a thread based around one of the key points in this interview (I did not hear the interview).

The Essendon defense is just leaking goals. The worst defensive team in the league.

I understand that Knights is trying to encourage a free flowing game plan, but it almost seems like he has total disregarded the defensive side of the game.

It will take him 3 years to develop his game plan, but I would think he should have switched the focus around. Teaching good solid defensive skills then once they have an accountability to their game, teaching them when to attack.

 

[Merv]

Matty also told the SEN boys that he has been focusing his coaching on only our Offence and Attacking roles (As I predicted). He said he hasn't focused our training sessions on defence at all, but also commented that a priemership side must have a good defence to be successful, meaning he will definitly not be slacking off when it comes to developing our guys to their defencve roles.

That isn't what he said but is your version.

 

[The_Young_Gun]

That isn't what he said but is your version.

ReQuote: He hasn't based our training sessions on defence at all.

And He specifically said, that he has been focusing on the offence part of our gameplan, and Defence hasn't taken a part in it yet.

 

[THOMO_31]

to his defence, all the experts were sayin that it is harder to teach kids a offensive brand of footy than a defensive brand. wat would u rather see us flooding and really workin on the defensive side and still gettin flogged. or trying to play excting football and gettin beaten. because i dont think it would matter which one we tried wouldnt help.

i honestly think he is workin on one side at a time. hopefully that will come later on.

 

[Ben the Gooner]

to his defence, all the experts were sayin that it is harder to teach kids a offensive brand of footy than a defensive brand. wat would u rather see us flooding and really workin on the defensive side and still gettin flogged. or trying to play excting football and gettin beaten. because i dont think it would matter which one we tried wouldnt help.

i honestly think he is workin on one side at a time. hopefully that will come later on.

Exactly, I'd rather see us belted by 10 - 15 goals each week, and truly get an idea of where everyone on the list is, than play JJ and Pev, flood, play really accountable footy, lose by 10 points, and learn nothing.

 

[dapto]

this is what worries me. i have never known a coach to have taught things this way. what makes him think that the players can't cope with learning both attacking and defensive aspects at the same time?

the worst thing is that our since round 3 we are not very attacking at all. all his time is being put into our attack and we are hopeless going inside 50.

spooooot on

to his defence, all the experts were sayin that it is harder to teach kids a offensive brand of footy than a defensive brand. wat would u rather see us flooding and really workin on the defensive side and still gettin flogged. or trying to play excting football and gettin beaten. because i dont think it would matter which one we tried wouldnt help.

i honestly think he is workin on one side at a time. hopefully that will come later on.

Thommo

If you are right then his biggest mistake was his management of expectations with his comments earlier in the season and general media. Very dangerous and naive.

Remembering that if you "believe" that he is doing the attacking stuff first and defensive stuff to come then are you surprised at the confusion that ensues when he sets up attacking and pacey footy with no reference to anything else. He should have said nought.

Knights is backed into a corner now and will be forced to change his game plan simply because of perceptions. The perception are not begotten of dust or lint but do have a source. His gameplan. The football world is too vicarious to tolerate coachs relying upon supporter belief when we are not getting beaten but absolutely smacked. I think it is unfortunate that he has or will have to address the strategies now because of perceptions as they exist in the public domain. Go and read BB. It is violent compared to here.

I support knights, I am a bomberman through and through but do not believe that losses like this reflect our talent. He needs to marry the accounts in his football strategies sooner rather than later.

What of the confidence damage to the players. What of the trepidation that creeps into intuitive players game. He is relying on the hawthorn model to create the geelong game. There is no guarantee that this is doable and the goalposts are moving radically given how hawthorn were able to secure those picks. Thompson and hay were assets to trade we do not have. And the draft horizon is not so permissive. We need to deal with the list as it is now and play football that instructs these younger players with what their skills are now will extend to as they naturally develop.

 

[WindyHillWatcher]

Thanks for this thread. Really good to hear from Matty Knights, I was drunk and angry when i wrote a pretty aggressive post last sunday night, but at the end of the day I think long-term we are going to be in a very good position. I'm confident with our youngsters, they just need experience and being crippled with injuries this year has not helped Matty Knights at all. I think Lucas and Gumby will completely change the dimensions of the present essendon. As for the defense part... well, probably should have been working on that more than offense you know... you need to stop goals to win games as well as kicking them. once again thanks for this thread.

 

[yaco55]

IMO some of the posters must have lived in another world for the last six months.

Read Ants training reports from November 2007 and you will find ' defensive actions' in nearly every report.

It may be the case that the players have not learnt as fast as Knight's wanted ,and these actions have not always translated into the field of play.

As an observer based in Hong Kong ( who doesnt watch every game live ), I have observed the following

- tackling is quite good ,as is the run down from behind, although the players dont often enough completely ****** the player . I do feel that EFC hasn't received enough holding the ball decisions from the umpires.
- too many players misjudge when to run forward ie; only one or two players should run forward if it is a 60/40 ball, not three or four
- Too often two players are tackling the opposition in the same action, when one player should be back three or four metres to stop a handball.
- Guarding of the mark could be improved.

Defensive actions need to improve buit it is fallacy to say that the coaching team has totally disregarded defence.

 

[The Donners]

And also since round 3, we have been decimated with injuries to players vital to the intial succes of this game plan.

Still had 18 players out on the field and 4 on the bench. Are you suggesting he's only training those players that are injured to be attacking?

 

[daffo]

And also since round 3, we have been decimated with injuries to players vital to the intial succes of this game plan.

If you look at our injury list now we only have Lucas and Davey that are in our best 22 (i don't count Dempsey yet, he hasn't proven himself).

For a coach to not focus some time on defensive pressure is really bad. Every successful team has been able to put on defensive pressure. All preimership teams are built on a good defensive line...

 

[ant555]

I find it amusing that people continually say that you should be teaching defense before anything else.
Defense is very important (and they have done work on it at training ) but what is the one thing that can stop the opposition from scoring goals ? Don't let them control the footy !!
If you work on getting your players into a plan where they can control 60 to 65% of the footy then you will win games. You can go down the road of trying to play a hard defensive style game but when you are using young blokes with under developed bodies in the midfield it is not going to be all that practicle.
I have said it a million times , we play ok when we work the inside defensive pressure. When we get lazy or are not switched on 100% we start letting opposition players run inside and that is when we get carved up.It is more of a mindset thing. The sooner players start finding that extra 10 to 20% of thinking in their non possesion time and remain at 100% concentration 100% of the time the sooner we will start player a bit better footy.

 

[Johnnyprinias]

I find it amusing that people continually say that you should be teaching defense before anything else.
Defense is very important (and they have done work on it at training ) but what is the one thing that can stop the opposition from scoring goals ? Don't let them control the footy !!
If you work on getting your players into a plan where they can control 60 to 65% of the footy then you will win games. You can go down the road of trying to play a hard defensive style game but when you are using young blokes with under developed bodies in the midfield it is not going to be all that practicle.
I have said it a million times , we play ok when we work the inside defensive pressure. When we get lazy or are not switched on 100% we start letting opposition players run inside and that is when we get carved up.It is more of a mindset thing. The sooner players start finding that extra 10 to 20% of thinking in their non possesion time and remain at 100% concentration 100% of the time the sooner we will start player a bit better footy.[/quote]


That will happen when the kids start maturing.

 

[ant555]

I find it amusing that people continually say that you should be teaching defense before anything else.
Defense is very important (and they have done work on it at training ) but what is the one thing that can stop the opposition from scoring goals ? Don't let them control the footy !!
If you work on getting your players into a plan where they can control 60 to 65% of the footy then you will win games. You can go down the road of trying to play a hard defensive style game but when you are using young blokes with under developed bodies in the midfield it is not going to be all that practicle.
I have said it a million times , we play ok when we work the inside defensive pressure. When we get lazy or are not switched on 100% we start letting opposition players run inside and that is when we get carved up.It is more of a mindset thing. The sooner players start finding that extra 10 to 20% of thinking in their non possesion time and remain at 100% concentration 100% of the time the sooner we will start player a bit better footy.[/quote]


That will happen when the kids start maturing.

Trouble is the kids are not the worst offenders in this area. The worst offenders are some of the senior players

 

[Johnnyprinias]

Trouble is the kids are not the worst offenders in this area. The worst offenders are some of the senior players

Yeah its been that way for a while now.