Coaching Staff Past Coach: Matthew Knights - Finally gets his second shot - 5/5

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Re: Essendon board; make your choice.

Lance Uppercut said:
agree with all of that Hypes, but what do you do? You can only make a decision based on the process you follow, can't you?
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Yeah very true.

And who knows, Knights might be a 15 year, premiership coach. I mean 5 weeks ago, people were saying Richmond were one of the worst sides of all time. Now of all a sudden they are looking like they are going to have a bright future and are playing some super football. Same thing could easily happen with Essendon, footballs a funny game like that.

I do think we as supporters do need a longer term view sometimes, but it is such an emotional game, it's very easy to get caught up in the moment and overreact. I am very guilty of that when it comes to Hawthorn sometimes
 
Re: Essendon board; make your choice.

Lance Uppercut said:
yeah I wanted Hardwick. But I understand there was a process followed. Maybe they made the right decision. But they made the decision based on the results of the process. You and I aren't in the inner sanctum, we can't know everything there is to know.

Like it or not, Hardwick ****ed his final interview. We HAVE shown spirit, but like all young teams, we've been inconsistent - like Richmond will be. Right now we're looking shit & Richmond are looking shit; a month ago it was the opposite. In a month it might be different again.

Without the stunning form of Jack Riewoldt, Richmond may have won none of those games. Is that purely Hardwick?

I wish Hardwick all the best, and rate him highly. I support our coach, but I acknowledge the problems we've had.

Sorry mate, but it's a knee-jerk thread IMO. Richmond turned over a huge amount of players, they are far from being a finals threat, and who knows if they will become that?

I just believe in taking a long term view. Footy fans seem to live in the moment, and that's not how long term decisions are made
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Your assuming this one thread is a knee-jerk. Check my history, I've been anti-Knights for a long while.

He doesn't fit our way. WE ALL KNEW IT. Some of us are trying to gloss it over somewhat; That everything will be ok.

It won't be mate. Knights experienced moderate success on the back of phenomenal players, not phenomenal coaching.

Where is the fight? Ryder shows it, so does Watson. The rest haven't a clue.

Can he fire this club up?

Excuse me mods, Lets get some ****ing heart!
 

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Re: Essendon board; make your choice.

HyperAgressiveDonk said:
Hi Lance,

Quite true. One of the main reasons he botched it though, was due to the fact Hawthorn wouldn't let him take his laptop with him the night before the final interview. Hardwicks laptop had a lot of information about the Hawthorn footy club and their gamplans, but also had his final presentation for the Essendon job on the laptop.
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So he turned up to the interview and said I cant give you my presentation because Hawthorn wont let me use my laptop? I wonder why he didn't get the job. Sorry but I cannot believe this to be true.
 
Re: Essendon board; make your choice.

vast said:
So he turned up to the interview and said I cant give you my presentation because Hawthorn wont let me use my laptop? I wonder why he didn't get the job. Sorry but I cannot believe this to be true.
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That's because your thinking of what happened isn't true. He redid his presentation on another computer in the short amount of time he had.
 
Re: Essendon board; make your choice.

This thread also assumes that Hardwick hasn't improved or develop as a coach in the 2 years since going for the Essendon job, which is a pretty big assumption.

Also, on the laptop thing, are you trying to tell me, he couldn't get hold a memory stick, copy his presentation to it, put it on another laptop.. could be almost any laptop... and show it to the board??? please!
 
Re: Matthew Knights; A question on a game

BOMBERS 4 LIFE!!!! said:
Not this year but maby next year if we have another average season in 2011.
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Agree with this to a certain extent, whilst im not happy at we are on the ladder I'm not surprised as we have had a tough draw and won some games, we weren't expected too and lost some we should have won. Add to that injuries and suspensions to key players and you end up with our current position, as Hird said "on the couch last week" that losses to key players really hurt middle of the road sides. I still feel we are improving and with guys like hurley, gumbleton, melksham, zaharakis getting more experience I can only see us getting better.

If we do truly end up going backwards next year though his position should be looked into.
 
Re: Essendon board; make your choice.

silk said:
This thread also assumes that Hardwick hasn't improved or develop as a coach in the 2 years since going for the Essendon job, which is a pretty big assumption.

Also, on the laptop thing, are you trying to tell me, he couldn't get hold a memory stick, copy his presentation to it, put it on another laptop.. could be almost any laptop... and show it to the board??? please!
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Thank you, silk. I was starting to think I was the only one who found that story ridiculous.
 
Re: Essendon board; make your choice.

HyperAgressiveDonk said:
the fact Hawthorn wouldn't let him take his laptop with him the night before the final interview. Hardwicks laptop had a lot of information about the Hawthorn footy club and their gamplans, but also had his final presentation for the Essendon job on the laptop.
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Re: Essendon board; make your choice.

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Re: Essendon board; make your choice.

If Knights said he just wanted to tweak the list, he's a liar. Half the 2007 list is gone.
 
Re: Essendon board; make your choice.

Lance Uppercut said:
**** I'm sick of this myth.

It was not a simple matter of Hardwick saying the list needed work, Knights saying it needed tweaking. That is SUCH bullshit.

It was a complex, long process. At the end of the day there were two candidates neck and neck. One blitzed his final interview, the other botched it.

Who the **** do you think they'd choose that being the case?

It's particularly annoying to hear this kind of thing just because Richmond have won a few games. Hardwick may well turn out to be a wonderful coach, and is looking the goods, but making these calls based on myths & a month of footy is just stupid imo. Essendon have shown spirit at times too, beating big teams.

I'm so sick of people making definitive calls on short term scenario's.

As for "rejecting the will of the fans"... **** me you can't be serious. Maybe we should get rid of the board who know the club, & make all decisions via internet poll?
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And Hardwick was rejected by Melbourne and the Kangaroos.

Time for them to slit their wrists.
 

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Re: Essendon board; make your choice.

jade_00 said:
Your assuming this one thread is a knee-jerk. Check my history, I've been anti-Knights for a long while.

He doesn't fit our way. WE ALL KNEW IT. Some of us are trying to gloss it over somewhat; That everything will be ok.

It won't be mate. Knights experienced moderate success on the back of phenomenal players, not phenomenal coaching.

Where is the fight? Ryder shows it, so does Watson. The rest haven't a clue.

Can he fire this club up?

Excuse me mods, Lets get some ****ing heart!
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So why start another thread - It has got me beat.
 
Re: Essendon board; make your choice.

I am one of the few on here prepared to say I did not want Hardwick at all. And it had nothing to do with the powerpoint fiasco.

It had to do with Knights and his direct and real knowledge of the players. I have the feeling now, as I did then, that Knights was in part handpicked by Sheedy himself to take over. I cite the fact that he was in charge of Bendigo for 2 years and part of Sheedy's assistant team for just 1 year.

Remember - all Hardwick had ever done as a coach was be an assistant - he had never coached a team in an actual match. Knights had 3 years of match coaching behind him - 1 at Port Magpies and 2 at Bendigo.

He is easily the least of our problems.
 
Re: Matthew Knights; A question on a game

Ryder Is God said:
We continue to put in shithouse performances.
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(inb4 tl;dr)

See, this is what I don't get. We've been competitive (in regards to some of our losses) against Port, Sydney and the Hawks, only to slip out in the dying seconds of each of those games.

Apart from getting thrashed at AAMI by Adelaide after a two week break, this is the only inconsistency I've seen in a long while, certainly not enough, IMO, to indicate 'shit house performances', as you say. I really don't see how those losses comes down to the coach. Had we have held on for each of those games, we'd have been 8-6 heading into this week's game against Melbourne.

We performed quite well for 3 and a half quarters despite being a young team, with crucial injuries to our back line. Anyone who thinks Pears + Fletcher missing doesn't affect our leakage of goals has got to be kidding themselves. Fatigue is likely to hit you in the dying seconds of a match if you're missing experience and key position players you've become so reliant on, this is what has lost us all of those games. It's not Knights, or the selections he made, it's the players.

It's little wonder why we were able to finish off the Dogs and Saints, as Knights had something to work with, and work he did.

Sure, if we end up losing matches like we did in Adelaide from now on, then I see the point. I see the cause for consideration, and the need to call our performance "shit house". However, if you look back 5 weeks or so, I don't see any "shit house" performances, I see acceptable performances, brought down by a lack of experience and composure in the very end. We've been able to remain competitive, despite being so young and inexperienced. I see that as a positive, really. And even if it's a problem, it's not with the coach.

But whether you're competitive or not, there's always a loser, and hopefully within time, and games into these young guns, we can start to be on the winning side more often.

Knights has a lot to prove, I agree, but I don't think he's done anything wrong so far. Sure, he's had his bad decisions here and there, but nothing more than what other coaches do. IMO, people have misunderstood our position, and his involvement. I don't see the reason to sack him. Our players have learned how to stay competitive, consistently, but they haven't learned how to capatalise. How is this a reason, as of yet, for people to bring up the topic of a sacking this early?

Knights didn't come with his own credentials, like a Mark Williams would, or a Leigh Matthews. He has to create his own with Essendon. I feel for him, because unlike Mark Williams, or Kevin Sheedy in his first stig at coach, he wasn't gifted a side he could work with, he's had to create it himself. Knights had to work with a shit house side in his first year as coach, but went on to lose 3 less games the following year, in 2009. Strangely, Lucas and Lloyd kicked less goals in 2009 than they did in 2008. Regardless of us finishing 8th, Knights did improve our win-loss tally, in his second year as coach.

His 3rd year isn't over yet, but if we continue to put performances like the ones we put in against Port, Sydney and the Hawks (including the 3 in a row wins against Richmond, Saints and the Bulldogs before that), for the rest of the year, I don't see why it wouldn't be fair to give Knights the chance to fulfill his contract (-2011), regardless of where we finish on the ladder.

Personally, I think sacking him would a cop-out scapegoat solution and would put us back another 3 years into mediocrity. I'm sick of being put back. Anyway, that's my two cents on the issue.
 
Re: Matthew Knights; A question on a game

It's not right that the coach of the club is so hated by supporters, it can't stay on like this. I've never seen a coach at any club that has been so disliked, even when we play good football supporters just can't seem to warm to him. The supporters are the most important part of any club and their voice should be heard.

We will end up as a "nothing club" the way we are going. He has no personality and seems to be a very average coach. The sooner we get rid of him and get the club back on track the better.

He is just not the right guy for Essendon.
 

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Coaching Staff Past Coach: Matthew Knights - Finally gets his second shot - 5/5

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