New Geelong VFL coach: Matthew Knights

[MC Extra Dollop]

Because the administration at the time wanted the cheapest option. Sad but true.

You honestly think Knights would have been cheaper than picking a successful senior coach from the local leagues (as many VFL sides do) and giving him a chance to be around an AFL affiliate? Many would have done it for next to nothing, just for the opportunity to work with an AFL side.

 

[lionel_luthor]

Because the administration at the time wanted the cheapest option. Sad but true.

Then blame the board not Knights, I am disturbe by the amount of vitriol and hate directed at Knights by Bombers fans, he actually started your rebuild program, after Sheedy's shocking and misguided attempts to top up the list in the final years of his tenure with hacks like Justin Murphy etc

I have heard a few Bombers players talk glowingly of Knights and the work he did at Bomberland.

Kevin Sheedy is to blame for how far Essendon fell, Knights wasn't successful but he did the hard work trying to rebuild an aging and decrepit list, and he made the right calls on Scott Lucas and Matthew Lloyd, as a Carlton fan I saw first hand the price we paid for hanging on to aging club stars/legends for too long.

Essendon's list was in much better shape now then before Knights took over.

 

[SirJimi05]

Listened to him a lot on the radio this year. Super good football brain and a good appointment. I wouldn't be surprised if he was coaching AFL again in a few years.

Show us one quote of yours saying the same thing when he was at the Bombers. You would have heard heaps of interviews with him during this time.

Can guarantee that when he was at the bombers you would have said the exact opposite.

 

[MC Extra Dollop]

Because the administration at the time wanted the cheapest option. Sad but true.

Any Geelong fans aware of Knights' history of coaching at Bendigo (not great)?

So, if I'm following correctly, you are saying that Knights was gifted the job as a band-aid for Bendigo, as he came cheaper than any other candidate. Then he was actually promoted to senior coach of one of the two most successful VFL/AFL clubs ever on the strength of a "not great" display as a VFL coach?

You're all over the shop.

 

[yodellinhank]

So, if I'm following correctly, you are saying that Knights was gifted the job as a band-aid for Bendigo, as he came cheaper than any other candidate. Then he was actually promoted to senior coach of one of the two most successful VFL/AFL clubs ever on the strength of a "not great" display as a VFL coach?

You're all over the shop.

And from there he had a similarly poor stint at Essendon only to be given another job somewhere else. Its baffling, but it just keeps happening.

He will be bullish about his chances and excited by the opportunity, be a miserable failure and pan all of the blame to others not buying in to his vision.

Rinse and repeat.

 

[MC Extra Dollop]

And from there he had a similarly poor stint at Essendon only to be given another job somewhere else. Its baffling, but it just keeps happening.

He will be bullish about his chances and excited by the opportunity, be a miserable failure and pan all of the blame to others not buying in to his vision.

Rinse and repeat.

"...it just keeps happening."

We haven't signed him directly from a similar role at another state league, nor have we promoted him to the top senior job. Shouldn't there have been resignations en masse from your board for hiring this clown, not once, but twice?

Yes, this decision will, in all likelihood, ruin the Geelong Football Club. Not like our 2011 VFL coach, whom you wouldn't be able to pick out of a police lineup and who has now been promoted to an assistant's position with our AFL team. In other words, Matthew Knights currently sits at about sixth in the pecking order of coaches employed by the Geelong Football Club. Hope he doesn't get drunk with all that power.

 

[Father Jack]

Like Bailey, had one eye on the future and got burnt by it. This is why I believe former club champions are a good pick because they are more likely to be able to ride out the 'rebuild' period without impatient fans calling for their head en masse, and if you aren't a former club champion but have a former club champion in the wings wanting in, you are stuffed. No two ways about it.

 

[lionel_luthor]

Like Bailey, had one eye on the future and got burnt by it. This is why I believe former club champions are a good pick because they are more likely to be able to ride out the 'rebuild' period without impatient fans calling for their head en masse, and if you aren't a former club champion but have a former club champion in the wings wanting in, you are stuffed. No two ways about it.

I agree with that, no way would Woosha have survived coaching West Coast after leading them to their first spoon, if he wasn't the club's greatest ever player (or at least top 2 or 3)

 

[JUBJUB]

Why are some Bomber fans getting so upset over who has been appointed another clubs VFL coach ?
Are you shitting yourselves thinking your club might pinch him from Geelong after next season ?


What a bunch of drama queens

 

[yodellinhank]

"...it just keeps happening."

We haven't signed him directly from a similar role at another state league, nor have we promoted him to the top senior job. Shouldn't there have been resignations en masse from your board for hiring this clown, not once, but twice?

Yes, this decision will, in all likelihood, ruin the Geelong Football Club. Not like our 2011 VFL coach, whom you wouldn't be able to pick out of a police lineup and who has now been promoted to an assistant's position with our AFL team. In other words, Matthew Knights currently sits at about sixth in the pecking order of coaches employed by the Geelong Football Club. Hope he doesn't get drunk with all that power.

Notice how it says "Geelong" as my location? I'm well aware of Dale Amos and his record at South Barwon. His coaching CV reads much better than Knights. Not sure why you bring him up; are you bringing him up to say that it doesn't really matter who coaches the VFL team? If anything his impressive record as a coach underlines the importance of development coaches.

Prior to his appointment as senior coach, Knights was in charge of the Essendon reserves/Bendigo football club in a similar role to the role he now has at the Cats. His runs on the board in that role include Jobe Watson and Heath Hocking. Thats it.

 

[Lunchlady Doris]

*smirks*

Knights is real good at taking advice and direction...

Is that like the smirk you had when Thompson left Geelong and you predicted they would miss the finals?

Lots of Bombers supporters crowing in this thread, does anyone else GAF?

 

[Sttew]

Because the administration at the time wanted the cheapest option. Sad but true.

And now Essendon has gone with the most expensive option. No middle ground at Bomberland

 

[MC Extra Dollop]

Notice how it says "Geelong" as my location? I'm well aware of Dale Amos and his record at South Barwon. His coaching CV reads much better than Knights. Not sure why you bring him up; are you bringing him up to say that it doesn't really matter who coaches the VFL team? If anything his impressive record as a coach underlines the importance of development coaches.

I'm saying that the Geelong and Collingwood VFL coaches are responsible for implementing their senior AFL coach's gameplan in their developing players. That's it. Geelong and Collingwood are different from the other VFL clubs at the moment, in that they are strictly reserves teams, it's not a partnership with another club, with a good percentage of members who consider the VFL club's fortunes to be more important than those of the AFL club. Supporters of many traditional VFA/VFL clubs resent the forced partnership and couldn't care less about the AFL side that now fills up half of its senior VFL team. Boards often make decisions which the AFL team is completely opposed to, but can't do anything about. Which is why you wouldn't have seen Fevola running around for the Magpies or Cats in the VFL.

Geelong and Collingwood don't particularly care about wins and losses in the VFL. If they make finals, great. But a success there is for the AFL side to be able to call up players from the VFL, when the situation arises, and have them do the job at the higher standard. They are there to develop young players and implement the same system as the players will experience when they (hopefully) progress to AFL level. Amos has been successful in this role and I think Knights will be too.

Now, what's Knights' record of developing talent like? It's difficult to say from afar, since he was presented with a much different situation to Amos. In Knights' tenure at Bendigo, the AFL side finished 13th, 15th and 12th; while Amos has been at Geelong, the Cats have finished 2nd on the ladder for three straight years, winning an average of eighteen games. What happens with your young players when your senior team is a premiership contender year after year? They get to develop at their own pace in the reserves and are surrounded by All-Australians when they do make the step up. When you have a bad senior side, any young player with a bit of talent will be thrown in the deep end, because he is probably already better than the incumbents. Who should have developed at Essendon, during Knights' tenure and didn't?

But I think we're fundamentally opposed on something. Being a senior AFL coach (not a caretaker) looks better on a coach's CV than anything another coach has done at a lower level. Unless, of course, the Essendon Football Club is completely incompetent. If my club's board had made two such apparently shocking decisions with its coaching staff in quick succession, I'd have trouble sleeping at night.

 

[Jesse Custer]

Good luck to him and Geelong.

 

[Ron The Bear]

Because the administration at the time wanted the cheapest option. Sad but true.

Why would Knights have come significantly cheaper than other untried options who were in the mix like Hardwick, McKenna, Sumich or Bond? And why try to save money, then renew his contract and torch $1m to pay him out?

 

[winty]

Any Geelong fans aware of Knights' history of coaching at Bendigo (not great)? Or in the SANFL (disaster)?

Ask some South Australians what they think about him...

ITT: A bunch of Essendon fans struggling to comprehend the difference between an AFL coach and a VFL coach.

What would be worse do you think, a club employing a former AFL coach as a VFL coach to help develop the youngsters, or a club employing a former favourite son to be their senior coach when he had done nothing related to football since he retired in 2007?

 

[stugots]

Why would Knights have come significantly cheaper than other untried options who were in the mix like Hardwick, McKenna, Sumich or Bond? And why try to save money, then renew his contract and torch $1m to pay him out?

look for those that havent grasped the 'Knights was a caretaker coach' concept yet, heres a revalation for you - Knights was a caretaker coach & got duly compensated for the role he played, shock horror, i know

move on

 

[Ron The Bear]

look for those that havent grasped the 'Knights was a caretaker coach' concept yet, heres a revalation for you - Knights was a caretaker coach & got duly compensated for the role he played, shock horror, i know

move on

You just want to believe Essendon are that clever. If they were he'd never have been given a two-year extension.

 

[telsor]

Any Geelong fans aware of Knights' history of coaching at Bendigo (not great)? Or in the SANFL (disaster)?

Ask some South Australians what they think about him...

His record was good enough that Essendon appointed him as AFL coach.

 

[Grizzly_82]

His record was good enough that Essendon appointed him as AFL coach.

Shhhh apparently he was just a care taker coach, they weren't serious about him. In fact the two year extension was just a ploy to make him feel better about himself.

Deluded Ess scumbag supporters

 

[Wetdog]

Mark Thompson for Matthew Knights?

Best. Trade. Ever.

Since Thompson moved to Essendon:

Geelong: 1

Essendon: 0

 

[Lance Uppercut]

Since Thompson moved to Essendon:

Geelong: 1

Essendon: 0

Oh dear

 

[HyperAgressiveDonk]

Since Thompson moved to Essendon:

Geelong: 1

Essendon: 0

Well you're kinda right I guess. Geelong probably wouldn't have won the flag this year with Mark Thompson sitting back & eating sandwiches in the coaching box

 

[One PAFC]

What do Geelong supporters think of this appointment?

Very poor gameplan with Essendon and refused to adopt the boards directive to become more defensive.

Anyone feel there is the possibility for conflict here? (Although if there is we all know who will come out on the wrong end of that)

Surprising move for mine.

http://www.geelongcats.com.au/geelongnews/newsarticle/tabid/3933/newsid/125633/default.aspx

So, Geelong for VFL wooden spoon then. Matthew Knights is a pathetic coach. How he ever got an AFL gig is beyond a joke. Can't even coach at state league level. Port Adelaide Magpies supporters can vouch for that!

 

[Power Supremacy]

Matthew Knights should be teaching resume preparation and interviewing... The man knows how to polish poo.

He was terrible in the SANFL
Terrible in the AFL

He'll be at a private school next.