Knights was appointed because he overrates our list

[Burzum]

As opposed to abusing your fans by chasing every Carlton hasbeen and trading for Richie Cole.

Your club has taken Essendon's duds, so don't act like it's a one-way street.

Didn't Carlton hit the front against Port in one of those games?

Irrelevant, you still didn't win.

Maybe you should read Ratten's excellent columns in Inside Football and think before you post nonsense like that.

So because he writes some 'excellent' columns, it qualifies him as a superior coach?

A coaching panel made up of Ratten, Riley, Bradley, Crosisca, McCartney(development coach) and Montgomery beats Knights and Prescott hands down.

You're guessing.

What will Knights bring to Essendon when he was sacked as coach by a SANFL team

I'll wait for him to coach a game for us before I judge his coaching abilities.

didn't meet Essendon's criteria for appointing a coach?

You wouldn't look to the logical explanation of his impressive presentations as a reason why those standards became irrelevant, would you?

Ratten was a vital part of one of the most successfull sides in history

Tim Watson was a vital part to our premierships in 84/85, didn't make him a good coach, did it?

and played and/or worked under Parkin, Brittain, Pagan and Neale Daniher.

Three of those coaches didn't have the most successful coaching career.

I think Brett knows more than the coach of Bendigo who hasn't even coached a flag or had his side dominate in the VFL.

You think, you don't know at all.

Greg Swann and Pratt aren't fools like Ray Horsburgh and wouldn't appoint him if he wasn't up to scratch.

Did they even go through a process?

Knights compared his list of young defenders to Geelong's.

No he didn't.

Barry Mitchell arguably has a better resume than Knights.

Ok?

We thought about replacing a premiership coach in Pagan with our VFL coach.

Good for you.

Essendon went ahead and did it.

Because he was the best candidate.

 

[pazza]

you've just appointed a coach who made a mess of a sanfl side

what tactics can he bring to essendon?

I feel sorrry for you guys

I've said this before, but, no-one appears to be listening to it.

Bendigo's tactics, partly dictated by home ground at Queen Elizabeth Oval and partly because of the control Knights had, were a direct kicking and running side.

Wouldn't be too hard to assume the same tactics will be applied to the senior line-up. It's very much a keep it simple motto.

 

[Oxygeneral]

I am really impressed in the way Matthew Knights has handled himself so far. I am so looking forward to 2008, no matter what happens. Let's not beat around the bush here, but some of the people involved previously did not have the nuts to make some hard decisions. Great appointment of Ashley Prescott as well.

 

[The Donners]

I've said this before, but, no-one appears to be listening to it.

Bendigo's tactics, partly dictated by home ground at Queen Elizabeth Oval and partly because of the control Knights had, were a direct kicking and running side.

Wouldn't be too hard to assume the same tactics will be applied to the senior line-up. It's very much a keep it simple motto.

Aside from Sydney, nearly every team who has won the premiership has had this simple philosophy with regards to tactics.

 

[Pevers-Legend]

Fair point. It was required, but perhaps that's what makes it easy. Everyone on BigFooty could tell you the players who left needed to go. Perhaps trading someone like Lucas, a la Hawthorn trading Thompson, would result in a quicker Essendon rebuild because it's over the 4-8 year term that Essendon will struggle.

We traded Hardwick/Blumfield/Heff/Cara and it ripped the guts out of the club.

We won't do that again and I think it is necessary to have the right guys at the top - our tradeable players are our leaders - we need them to help mould this new group coming through.

Knights is going to cop flak left right and centre at least until the first couple of rounds next year. If we lose the first few, expect the trolls to be in full swing.

We are not in a good position, but we ifnally have a freshness and excitement about the club - the deadwodd is gone, the key areas that we have been bleadingly deficient in are going to be addressed.

I will reserve judgemnt until results are provided. As tey say talk is cheap - but thats all we have to go by at the moment.

 

[wazzabp]

Hmmmm. So what you are saying is that apart from his bungling of the Kepler Bradley's departure, he has done nothing.

Good job, Knighta. Off to a flying start.

You have to question the wisdom of any prospective coach who thinks they can step into Sheedy's shoes.
Maybe he sees this Essendon gig as a good apprenticeship for the Richmond job.

Hes cleaned out the deadwood(or by the looks of it gave them a subtle shove to retire gracefully), something that Sheeds wasn't able to do.
Its a start, I'll judge him more harshly when the season starts and he gets some games under his belt as a senior coach.
I don't write off new players before they play a game at the top level, and the same will apply to the coach.

 

[wazzabp]

The appointment is a joke Chewy. I can't reconcile it on any level, save and except that the current board were looking for a dud to assure them a few years of high draft picks. Watch out for the announcement of a high profile list manager to make sure Knights doesn't skew the list with homosexual Albino's with all their high picks.

I heard in trade week he was making a play for Fremantles Scott Thornton as possible evidence of this.

Just a typical post from big Footy's biggest tool.

 

[PinCushion]

The same Mr X who said:

Just got back from a meeting in the CBD and the blues are now resigned to the fact the they'll struggle to make the deal directly with WCE.

There isn't enough time left in trade week to come up with a complicated 3 or 4 way club deal that will keep everyone happy, so the pick 3+20+Kennedy deal is off the table. The deal should have been done by now, and time is a real factor

Judd is aware of this, and is extremly disappointed. Looks like he will nominate for the PSD with a huge price attached.

Tigers are very much in the mix, and there may soon be a higher profile player at RFC traded away to make room in their cap. They intend to speak to Judd and get him keen on the idea of coming to Tigerland.

Disappointing for all parties concerned.. just proves that draft week rarely gets any real results

 

[ant555]

Hmmmm. So what you are saying is that apart from his bungling of the Kepler Bradley's departure, he has done nothing.

Good job, Knighta. Off to a flying start.

You have to question the wisdom of any prospective coach who thinks they can step into Sheedy's shoes.
Maybe he sees this Essendon gig as a good apprenticeship for the Richmond job.

How is Bradley's departure a bungle ? Some of you bone heads need to look at the big picture.
1)Bradley wanted to leave.
2)Knights told him his only chance of playing seniors was as a forward and his options would be limited given Lloyd and Lucas have the main roles sown up for the next two or three years and the club would be looking at fast tracking Gumbleton.
3)We tried to get a decent draft pick for him but at the end of the day no one rated Bradley so that didnt happen.
4)We let him go for nothing because we didnt want to trade for rubbish picks in this years draft. No point draft crap at the end of this draft when next year is a bit stronger.
5)We did not trade for players for the same reason as we didnt take any crap 4th or 5th round picks. No need to fill the list up with any more junk from other clubs.
Yes we have given him away for nothing but we where going to get nothing for him anyway. What would we have got to make the club so much stronger by using another 4th round pick ?
I have said all along that Bradley was a forward but Sheedy has pretty much stuffed him. He can now only play one position and that is as a forward. His kicking isnt great. He set shots are only average. He cant play defence , he simply hasnt got the composure under pressure.
Seriously you tools have been bagging him for two years saying he is a dud and when we delist him it is a bungle.

 

[ant555]

Hes cleaned out the deadwood(or by the looks of it gave them a subtle shove to retire gracefully), something that Sheeds wasn't able to do.
Its a start, I'll judge him more harshly when the season starts and he gets some games under his belt as a senior coach.
I don't write off new players before they play a game at the top level, and the same will apply to the coach.

I think there will be more to judge in 2009. Next year will be about sorting out what we have with the kids who have played 20 games or less. Knights will need time to change things. Everyone jumped on Clarkson in the first two years becasue he didnt get the results as far as wins go but he was setting the style of play he wanted and building up the young blokes to fill those roles.
Knights may well not be our next premiership coach but having seen him in action pretty close up over the last three years i am confident he is the bloke to develop us a core list of good young players for the future.

 

[jules101]

The same Mr X who said:

lol.. My fav bit is "Just got back from a meeting in the CBD" hehe.

 

[SYDpower]

It doesn't. You brought up the statement that Essendon fans wouldn't be comfortable and pazza corrected you.



How can your team, that is so used to losing, be good for your club? May as well get rid of them all



Allan Jeans, Tom Hafey, Mark Williams, Paul Roos, and Denis Pagan all came from teams that weren't successful. Yet they all went on to have successful coaching career.

Would like to correct you on the Mark Williams assertion.

Mark Williams commenced his career playing with West Adelaide, then went to Port Adelaide, where he was part of 2 premierships teams in the halcyon years of the SANFL.

He then moved to Collingwood, where although he did not win a premiership, was still part of a grand final team and part of the finals.

He then went to Brisbane in the early years where yes, there was no success.

He then went back to Port Adelaide magpies in the SANFL where again he was successful in winning premierships.
He then was assistant coach at Essendon in a reasonably successful period before coming back to Port Adelaide
To say he came from and unsuccessful background is wrong, as he has experienced a great deal of success and is the son of the most successful Port Magpies coach (next to Jack Cahill), so he knows full well what it takes to be successful and has always demanded & expects success.

So in summary, still believe you need to have known success to be able to to achieve it and demand it from your players & club & culture.

 

[Pevers-Legend]

Would like to correct you on the Mark Williams assertion.

Mark Williams commenced his career playing with West Adelaide, then went to Port Adelaide, where he was part of 2 premierships teams in the halcyon years of the SANFL.

He then moved to Collingwood, where although he did not win a premiership, was still part of a grand final team and part of the finals.

He then went to Brisbane in the early years where yes, there was no success.

He then went back to Port Adelaide magpies in the SANFL where again he was successful in winning premierships.
He then was assistant coach at Essendon in a reasonably successful period before coming back to Port Adelaide
To say he came from and unsuccessful background is wrong, as he has experienced a great deal of success and is the son of the most successful Port Magpies coach (next to Jack Cahill), so he knows full well what it takes to be successful and has always demanded & expects success.

So in summary, still believe you need to have known success to be able to to achieve it and demand it from your players & club & culture.

so what of the rest then? Jeans, Hafey, Roos and Pagan. You are deafly silent on them.....Oh I fogrot, the bigfooty argument - focus only the facts that prove your point and ignore anything that contradicts it.

And by the by, what if Knights won a flag at U12's - does this mean he knows what it takes?

What a load of crap.