IT may have ended messy, but Matthew Knights can leave Essendon Football Club with his head held high.
For months the uncomfortable glare of the football spotlight has been squarely on Knights and whether he would be given the opportunity to see out the remaining two years of his contract as Essendon coach.
On Sunday he was told that wasn’t going to be the case and that his services were no longer required.
Of course, the story of Knights the Essendon coach has its origins in Bendigo.
For three seasons – 2005, 2006 and 2007 – Knights coached the Bendigo Bombers in the VFL.
Throughout those three years in Bendigo Knights’ greatest trait was always his positivity and optimism.
He was a “glass half full’’ type of coach, and there’s no doubt that optimism was integral in Knights getting the Essendon coaching job in late September of 2007.
I’ll never forget the 2007 elimination final against North Ballarat, in what became Knights’ last game as coach of Bendigo.
That was the infamous game in which Bendigo was nine goals up at half-time and somehow lost by six goals to its arch rivals.
Despite losing the unloseable game, Knights was in good spirits later that night as he reflected on the dramatic events that unfolded at TEAC Oval in that second half.
That was the type of coach he was of Bendigo – not one to dwell on the negatives.
He was intense, focused and driven to succeed to get the best out of his team – a team in which he had to juggle two playing lists separated by 125km.
Twice during his three years at Bendigo, Knights took the Bombers to the VFL finals, including to the preliminary final in 2005 against Sandringham.
He remains the only coach in Bendigo’s VFL history – which dates back to 1998 with the Diggers – to coach a winning final.
In three weeks’ time there seems little doubt Knights will be named the coach of the Bendigo Diggers-Bombers Team of the Decade.
From a media perspective, Knights – or Knighter as I came to know him – was always accommodating to us in the sports department at the Bendigo Advertiser.
He was always insightful and expansive on his thoughts, be it about the performance of his side – good or bad – or the introduction of controversial new rules into the VFL, or the delight he always got in speaking about the development of young players on the club’s list, none more so than future Bombers captain James Flaherty.
Like all journalists and coaches though, we had several “run-ins” over stories that portrayed the Bombers negatively.
But that’s all part and parcel of the job as Knights was simply passionately defending his football club.
That’s another thing about Knighter – I could never fault his passion for the Bendigo Bombers and their philosophy of providing an alternative pathway into the AFL.
At times though I thought Knighter could get defensive – almost take it personally – if he didn’t like something that was written in the paper about the Bombers, and when he got the job at Essendon I was intrigued to see how he would handle the inevitable media scrutiny that was going to come his way.
After all, there couldn’t have been any more pressure heaped on a first-time coach than that which was on Knighter when he assumed the role from an icon of Essendon in Kevin Sheedy.
As for that media scrutiny, it has been constantly on Knights as the form of Essendon fluctuated during his three years, while there was always continued criticism about the lack of defence in his game plan.
That scrutiny had reached fever pitch in recent weeks, but Knighter couldn’t have been more impressive in the way he handled all the negativity that seemed to come his way just about every day.
Throughout all the uncertainty of recent weeks about his job – he remained resilient and upbeat in the face of growing adversity.
And he showed that trait I best remember of his time in Bendigo – he stayed positive.
Positive that the club would stand by its decision to honour his contract and that “come round one next year I’ll be sitting up in that coach’s box”.
Positive that after a disappointing 2010 the club could turn the corner and return to the finals next year – just like it had done last season under Knights when the Bombers finished in the top eight for the first time since 2004.
Unfortunately for Knighter, the Essendon board doesn’t share that same positivity. Rather, it has taken the decision that it’s time for a fresh start at Essendon.
But as an Essendon supporter and friend of Knighter, I couldn’t be more proud of the way in which he has carried himself in recent weeks through difficult times.
It has been a credit to himself and his family. He is a person of tremendous strength and confidence in his ability.
He will get through this tough period and move on. And while he may now fall into the category of “sacked coaches’’, I believe he will move on with his integrity still very much intact.
Chin up, Knighter.
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