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A MATESHIP that goes back to their days together in grade one at Rochester’s St Joseph’s Primary School will be put on hold Sunday afternoon when Nick Knight and Kahl Oliver become rival coaches in the Heathcote District league elimination final.
Oliver will lead Lockington Bamawm United into battle, while Knight will be at the helm of Colbinabbin as both sides fight for survival at White Hills.
They will shake each other’s hand before the game, but after that – for a couple of hours – it will be a case of good mates who played junior footy and tennis together, rode motorbikes and made their senior footy debuts alongside each other become fierce foes.
“We’ve been good mates for a long time… I’ve known Knighter since we were in grade one together at St Joseph’s Primary in Rochy,” Oliver recalled this week.
“Back in the under-14s Rochester had two footy sides, the Magpies and Tigers; I played for the Magpies and Knighter played for the Tigers, so we were on different sides then.
“We were then part of the same team together in the Rochy under-16s, we had a year together at the Bendigo Pioneers and we both played our first senior games together for Rochy as 16-year-olds.”
That senior debut together was in the 2001 Goulburn Valley league season when Rochester took on neighbours Echuca.
“I remember it was pouring rain that day at Rochy against Echuca. We were both in awe of the players we grew up watching at Rochy and to be able to play alongside some of them with Ollie is a great memory to look back on,” Knight said this week.
“I felt out of my depth a little bit whereas Ollie adapted really well and went on to become a very good Goulburn Valley league footballer.”
Oliver would go on to play in Rochester’s 2008 grand final win against Seymour – the same season in which Knight played in a Heathcote District league flag at Colbinabbin.
This season is the first that the pair have crossed paths in rival colours, with the coaching ledger 1-1.
Knight’s Grasshoppers defeated LBU by 38 points in their first encounter of the year, while in an entree to their elimination final showdown, Oliver’s Cats won their return bout by two points a fortnight ago.
“It probably gives you a bit of extra motivation to make sure you have your team perform well in front of a bloke you’ve been good mates with for so long and have both been taught similar things along the journey,” Oliver said.
“We both played under Dave Williams, who to me is one of the best coaches I’ve had. He taught me a lot about the game and would have taught Knigher a lot also.
“To test yourself against a bloke you’ve had a lot to do with throughout your footy career is obviously a great challenge.”
The pair’s former Rochester coach Dave Williams isn’t surprised that both Oliver and Knight made the coaching transition.
“Kahl had a really good career at Rochy after he got over a bit of osteitis pubis and Knighter was a very skilful player… I’m not surprised to see that both of them have gone on to coach themselves,” Williams said.
“Kahl was never the quickest player, but definitely got the best out of his talent, that’s for sure, and Knighter was more of an outside player, but when it was his time to go he put his head over the footy.
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“They were always really coachable guys and you could see they were taking everything in and that has continued on with them going on to lead clubs as coaches.”
Not even being close mates stopped Knight two weeks ago from trying to catch Oliver off guard ahead of their round 17 match in which the Colbinabbin coach was sidelined with a quad injury.
“We were having a chat before the game and Ollie was asking me about our ins and outs and if we’d be at full strength, which I said we would be,” Knight said.
“I tried to get one over him by telling him I was playing, but after he got the win I realised I was probably best just to have shut my mouth after he got the last laugh.”
Added Oliver: “It was good to get one back on him a couple of weeks ago after they won the first game at Colbo earlier in the year.
“He told me a bit of a cheeky fib a couple of weeks ago that he would be playing when he wasn’t, but he apologised at the end of the game… all’s good, that’s footy.”
Adding to the coaching battle between the two mates on Sunday is that one of the keys to the Cats’ chances will be curtailing the influence of the classy Knight, who returns to the Colbinabbin side.
“In the first game we played against them I made sure a few of the blokes who we had to play on him knew just how smart a footballer he is,” Oliver said.
“He will get himself in dangerous positions all the time and is still playing some very good football, so we’ll have some plans ready for him on Sunday.”
Sunday marks the Cats’ return to the finals for the first time since 2014, which was the last year of their premiership four-peat.
It was a reign of dominance in which Oliver was pivotal. Not only did he play in all four of the consecutive premierships between 2011 and 2014, but he coached the first three, while his four goals in the 2014 win over North Bendigo were pivotal in the Cats turning a 26-point third-quarter deficit into an 11-point victory.
“I watched those grand finals and was very happy for him,” Knight said.
“I knew whatever he did after he left Rochy he would be very good at because he’s always been a very smart operator when it comes to his football.
“There’s no doubt he’ll get things going again at Locky in the next few years.
“For a couple of hours on Sunday though he’s the opposition coach and it’s all on the line… we want to win, they want to win, but whatever happens, we’ll have a beer together afterwards.”
Sunday’s elimination final starts at 2.15pm.
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