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

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Spikey said:
That's a lie:p

The best thing about Knighter so far has been he has stuck to his guns. Whether we are winning or losing, he's playing the kids. I like that.
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If he didn't then he would be a failure ... He has to believe he has the plan because the day he doesn't it's all over ... The thing I like about Knights is that he acknowledges Clarkson as the role model but is his own man and has his own style and plan ...
 

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I have been very impressed with Knights, He seems to be doing everything the opposite to Laidley and thats what I like about him! Sticks with the kids because he knows that is the way that we are going to be able to have a strong future. I am so glad that we got him as a coach, It's probably a little early to say it but I am VERY glad that we picked him up. Thanks Hodge2Franklin, I was wondering why he reminded me of Alistair Clarkson so much.:p
I love the fact that he has injected so much pace into the game for us. I can't wait till next year, Gumbleton, Davey and Dempsey back in full stride. It's going to be so exciting. I really hope Knights and the boys put on a decent show this week, I am going to my 1st AFL game this weekend as I will be in Melbourne, Also watching Essendon V Richmond the following week.
 
The one thing that is typical of Knights' coaching thus far is the way he left Myers on Hodge for the whole game against Hawthorn. Hodge was best on by a mile, but Knighter stuck to his guns, and Myers will be better for it.

We won't make finals, and I don't care what Knighter says about them. As long as we try and win every game, and play the kids, I'm happy this year.
 
last year we spent the last 7 weeks "a mathematical chance" of making finals. i know the draw is done differently this year, but normally the final 8 is decided by about two thirds of the season through. i don't see why this year should be any different. i agree with knighter in taking the pressure off the group and just letting them play instead of adding to the media hype about us playing finals.

carlton gets a sniff and starts talking finals and next week they are out. our boys don't need that.
 
daffo said:
I heard it on channel ten news last night.

Is this the right message for the team? We are only a couple of games out of the eight with some winnable games coming up. I am a fan of Knights but i didn't like the way he flat out said we won't make the finals.
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It's not always about finals dude, especially with the current state of our young list, now more than ever we need to realistic.

Nothing wrong with honesty either. It's whether or not people are prepared to hear it. Clearly some aren't ready and that's not a bad thing but change is constant and we need to be ready for it when it happens.:thumbsu:
 
Hypothetically if we do make the finals will players like Winderlich and Davey be fit to play or will they miss the finals due to injury as well?
 
well... let's be honest here... there was a good 2 months there that was less than impressive, 3 wins later and we all have amnesia (aka Carlton syndrome). Would be great to party crash the finals and i hope it does happen, but realistically, when considering ladder position, teams fighting for the 8, our percentage and the fact that we havent beat any quality team in the 8... it's a well measured statement.
 
Windas_Magic said:
We're not a top 8 side anyway
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yes true, but seeing as we have a very young group i still think it is the most demoralising thing a person could say at this point in time, off the back of some great form.

Anyway i would still love to win over tanking because no matter where we finish this year we will still pick up a great player!:)
 
bomberz08 said:
yes true, but seeing as we have a very young group i still think it is the most demoralising thing a person could say at this point in time, off the back of some great form.

Anyway i would still love to win over tanking because no matter where we finish this year we will still pick up a great player!:)
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or does it take any pressure off the players that they may be feeling - so it would become a positive.
 

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bomberz08 said:
yes true, but seeing as we have a very young group i still think it is the most demoralising thing a person could say at this point in time, off the back of some great form.

Anyway i would still love to win over tanking because no matter where we finish this year we will still pick up a great player!:)
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He didn't even say it :cool:
 
Pevers-Legend said:
or does it take any pressure off the players that they may be feeling - so it would become a positive.
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If he did make those comments I certainly wouldnt view it as a positive. We wont make finals anyway as we are currently 4 games out of the 8 and with a poor percentage. It is all about the development of the kids. Cannot believe Hislop got injured this week...was destined to come into the team:mad:
 
Lets not forget about what our club has gone through in the last 12 months. We lost our Captain - the greatest player that I have seen pull on a Dons jumper. Our coach of 27 years - again a man who sustained the highs and lows of the toughest job in the AFL. A massive broom (to get rid of the dead wood) that had to be swept through the club and on top of all of that, a bunch of morons who wanted to out certain members of our board.

Now we have a new coach and coaching staff, a new group of young devaloping players, a new game plan - basically a new era......

I look at this as a very exiting time for the club. With anything new there is usually teething problems, we have had a huge amount of injuries this year which has hurt us a huge way.

Knight's is a strong, honest, hard but fair leader of our club, very similar to the way he trained and played his footy. He has a vision for our club and sound processes in place to achieve his vision/goal.

Let's all be patient and actually enjoy watching our kids devalope into a champion team and not a team of champions!

I love this club and can't wait for the mighty RED AND BLACK to hit back and win it's next flag, but I will also enjoy it even more because I will have the appreciation of where we come from to get it!

Go Bombers!!!:thumbsu::thumbsu::thumbsu:
 
Ari said:
It's a rebuilding year and a year for the coach and younger players to find their feet.

We have 8 games remaining. To play finals we need to win 7 of those 8 games. In a year where we've lost 8 games in a row I think it's preety realistic to say we're not going to win 7 of our last games.

Ultimately, Knights is just trying to take the finals pressure off the players as they don't need it at the moment. It's not their focus. Suppose we won this week. That leaves 6 games out of 7 to win... and if we lose next week it's 6 out of 6. The media would run it for all it's worth and we'd be playing finals in July. Not what we need.

I fully support Knights on this one.
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I agree with Ari on this, and more to the point, that's not what Knights said. He doesn't want to focus on the finals!! Look what happened to Carlton a couple of weeks ago - they thought they could could make the finals, lost their game day perspective , and promptly got smashed.

I concede that Geelong, The Doggies and Hawks can say they will make the finals. The rest will have to concentrate on each game as they come.
 
Barry Zuckercorn QC said:
Knights saying Essendon wont make the 8 in 08 is deceiving. Is he foxing?
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He never said that. What he said was that he was not focusing on it - he is focusing on developing his team.

And I don't blame him. I just looked at the ladder and Geelong is on 56 points with a % of 152 and we are on 24 with a % of 82.1.

Anyone seeing that alone can understand why it is more important to develop our team into a better team than to try to get into the finals, which at the moment is only a distraction.

Look at Carlton: two weeks ago, everyone was talking about finals footy - now they are hanging on to try to finish ahead of us.

I am more interested in the development of Jetta, Bananaboots, Lonergan, and the strong and healthy return of Alwyn and Gumbleton than talking about the eight this year.

Next year, I am hoping we can talk about top 4.

Let's get behind Knights - what he says goes!!
 
Of course of it would be nice, but he's realistic.

With such a young group, all it takes is one bad half of footy this week and the finals are done!

It's important to keep focused on the task at hand and not be worried about something that may or may not be 8 weeks away.
 
Midway through the third quarter, Leroy Jetta, having been on the receiving end of some high contact from Alan Didak, received a free kick about 30m out on a slight angle.

He went back and slotted right between the middle.

A month ago, Leroy was putting them out on the full and was a player devoid of confidence in front of goal.

Knights made time at the end of a training session before our encounter with Fremantle to thoroughly work through those demons with him. We saw the result of that today.

Whilst on the surface this is insignificant, I believe it shows the kind of coach and the kind of person Matthew Knights is. Both he and Essendon have a long way to go, but in Knights we have a coach committed to every individual and one that will go to any length to get the best out of them.

A great quality.
 
GoDons said:
Midway through the third quarter, Leroy Jetta, having been on the receiving end of some high contact from Alan Didak, received a free kick about 30m out on a slight angle.

He went back and slotted right between the middle.

A month ago, Leroy was putting them out on the full and was a player devoid of confidence in front of goal.

Knights made time at the end of a training session before our encounter with Fremantle to thoroughly work through those demons with him. We saw the result of that today.

Whilst on the surface this is insignificant, I believe it shows the kind of coach and the kind of person Matthew Knights is. Both he and Essendon have a long way to go, but in Knights we have a coach committed to every individual and one that will go to any length to get the best out of them.

A great quality.
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Thanks for that, great story.

Jetta is improving no doubt. Still a bit green but shows so much promise! That quick handball to Lovett-Murray in the last was increadible.
 
Yep, and i was listening on the radio today, and they said, "Knights very rarely drags a player for making an error" This is another example of him having confidence in the group and being influential
 
Agreed, he oozes X-Factor young Jetta. *want him to grow his hair and blonde it again*
Knights is incredible, Really nice bloke to supporters too!
Seems to really care about the people involved with Essendon and the kids that play for him.
 
Fantastic coach. The players know that he will help them and this gives the players the confidence they need at AFL level. I want Knights to keep persisting with Laycock because I think one day laycock might be a handy backup ruckman. He has fantastic relationships with all the players and this is vital for a coach coaching an elite football club. Not many coaches are able to do this well. It is a great skill to have.
 
bipolarbeaR said:
Agreed, he oozes X-Factor young Jetta. *want him to grow his hair and blonde it again*
Knights is incredible, Really nice bloke to supporters too!
Seems to really care about the people involved with Essendon and the kids that play for him.
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Good point.

Sheedy was such a GREAT people person. He just loved people, their lives, their success. It was a key factor in his legacy.

Knights also seems to be a great people person. The confidence he is instilling in the players is a pleasure to watch. :thumbsu:
 

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

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