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| Matthew Knights | |||
|---|---|---|---|
 Knights with Geelong in April 2019 | |||
| Personal information | |||
| Full name | Matthew Knights | ||
| Born | (1970-10-05)5 October 1970 (age 55) Mildura, Victoria | ||
| Original team | Merbein, Mildura Imperials | ||
| Height | 178 cm (5 ft 10 in) | ||
| Weight | 79 kg (174 lb) | ||
| Playing career | |||
| Years | Club | Games (Goals) | |
| 1988–2002 | Richmond | 279 (141) | |
| Coaching career3 | |||
| Years | Club | Games (W–L–D) | |
| 2008–2010 | Essendon | 67 (25–41–1) | |
| 2022 | West Coast | 1 (0–1–0) | |
3 Coaching statistics correct as of 2022. | |||
| Career highlights | |||
| |||
| Sources:AFL Tables,AustralianFootball.com | |||
Matthew Knights (born 5 October 1970) is anAustralian rules football coach and former player who is currently serving as an assistant coach with theWest Coast Eagles.[1]Knights played in the midfield for theRichmond Football Club from 1988 to 2002, before going on to forge a coaching career, most notably as head coach of theEssendon Football Club from 2008 to 2010. He later became the head coach of theGeelong VFL Football Club from 2012 to 2014, guiding the Cats to the 2012 VFL Premiership and the 2013 VFL Grand Final.
Knights wore the number 33 guernsey in 279 games between 1988 and 2002 for theTigers whom he captained between 1997 and 2000. Playing inRichmond's midfield for the majority of his career, Knights was known for his ball-winning ability, if not his athleticism. Gifted with excellent "vision" or spatial awareness, and consistently reliable delivery from his left boot, given time and space, Knights was one of the most damaging midfielders in theAFL throughout the 90s.
Though rewarded with numerous individual honours playing in a mediocre team, Knights made only two appearances with theTigers in theAFL Finals Series in 1995 and 2001. He was placed in the top four in the team's annual best and fairest vote seven times between 1990 and 2000, and tied for fourth place in theBrownlow Medal count of 1995.
Knights' career was interrupted by a serious ankle injury in Round 2 of 1996 and a knee injury in the pre-season Ansett Cup competition in 1997. Late in 1998, he became one of the first high-profile AFL players to be diagnosed with the debilitating groin conditionosteitis pubis, which dogged him through much of the remainder of his career. His courage in leading his team despite these setbacks made him highly admired by his team's supporters, and his removal as captain just before the start of the 2001 season caused considerable controversy (despite this, Richmond went on to finish the season as preliminary finalists). In Round 2, he was the centre of a further public controversy when struck behind play byWestern Bulldogs playerTony Liberatore, who was suspended for five matches as a result. The inability to maintain high expectations led to Knights' retirement as a player towards the end of the 2002 season.
Knights was quickly recruited as assistant coach for theSANFLPort Adelaide Magpies and replaced Stephen Williams as senior coach the following year. Having played a major role in restructuring the club's playing list, but without having reached the finals, he resigned at the end of 2004 by mutual consent to become the senior coach theBendigo Bombers in the VFL, while also acting as an assistant coach with theEssendon Football Club in theAFL for the2007 season.[2]
In July 2007, Essendon announced that long-standing senior coachKevin Sheedy would be replaced at the end of the 2007 AFL season[3] and in September 2007, Knights was appointed as the club's new senior coach.[4][5][2]
In 2009, Knights coached Essendon to its first finals series since 2004, but the team was soundly beaten byAdelaide in theelimination final.[6]
In the2010 season, Essendon won seven games and failed to make the finals.[7] Criticism of Knights coaching performance increased during the season.[8] On 12 August 2010, Essendon's CEO Ian Robson stated that Knights would continue as senior coach in 2011,[9] but he was, nonetheless, sacked two weeks later on the day after Essendon's final round loss to theWestern Bulldogs.[10] He had two years remaining on his contract. Essendon won 25, drew one and lost 41 matches under Knights, during which they enjoyed three consecutive victories againstAlastair Clarkson and theHawthorn Football Club, and also enjoyed a 100% record against future three-timeRichmond premiership coachDamien Hardwick.[6][11] Knights was replaced byJames Hird as Essendon Football Club senior coach.
For the 2011 season, Knights worked with theXavier College football team in Kew.
During the 2012 season, Knights was the coach of theGeelong VFL Football Club. He coached the team to the 2012 VFL premiership.[12] In 2015, he was promoted to midfields coach.
On 13 September 2021, Knights left Geelong, and was hired by the West Coast Eagles as midfields coach.[13]
G | Goals | K | Kicks | D | Disposals | T | Tackles |
B | Behinds | H | Handballs | M | Marks |
| Season | Team | No. | Games | Totals | Averages (per game) | Votes | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| G | B | K | H | D | M | T | G | B | K | H | D | M | T | |||||
| 1988 | Richmond | 33 | 4 | 3 | 8 | 42 | 21 | 63 | 17 | 4 | 0.8 | 2.0 | 10.5 | 5.3 | 15.8 | 4.3 | 1.0 | 0 |
| 1989 | Richmond | 33 | 19 | 9 | 8 | 192 | 147 | 339 | 47 | 32 | 0.5 | 0.4 | 10.1 | 7.7 | 17.8 | 2.5 | 1.7 | 4 |
| 1990 | Richmond | 33 | 22 | 19 | 7 | 348 | 203 | 551 | 63 | 52 | 0.9 | 0.3 | 15.8 | 9.2 | 25.0 | 2.9 | 2.4 | 3 |
| 1991 | Richmond | 33 | 22 | 16 | 11 | 317 | 218 | 535 | 81 | 34 | 0.7 | 0.5 | 14.4 | 9.9 | 24.3 | 3.7 | 1.5 | 17 |
| 1992 | Richmond | 33 | 22 | 16 | 12 | 289 | 225 | 514 | 67 | 34 | 0.7 | 0.5 | 13.1 | 10.2 | 23.4 | 3.0 | 1.5 | 5 |
| 1993 | Richmond | 33 | 20 | 11 | 15 | 290 | 216 | 506 | 65 | 44 | 0.6 | 0.8 | 14.5 | 10.8 | 25.3 | 3.3 | 2.2 | 13 |
| 1994 | Richmond | 33 | 20 | 14 | 11 | 221 | 162 | 383 | 49 | 42 | 0.7 | 0.6 | 11.1 | 8.1 | 19.2 | 2.5 | 2.1 | 8 |
| 1995 | Richmond | 33 | 24 | 12 | 7 | 306 | 222 | 528 | 53 | 72 | 0.5 | 0.3 | 12.8 | 9.3 | 22.0 | 2.2 | 3.0 | 16 |
| 1996 | Richmond | 33 | 10 | 1 | 3 | 87 | 66 | 153 | 36 | 24 | 0.1 | 0.3 | 8.7 | 6.6 | 15.3 | 3.6 | 2.4 | 0 |
| 1997 | Richmond | 33 | 11 | 2 | 4 | 129 | 87 | 216 | 34 | 22 | 0.2 | 0.4 | 11.7 | 7.9 | 19.6 | 3.1 | 2.0 | 8 |
| 1998 | Richmond | 33 | 20 | 6 | 4 | 289 | 229 | 518 | 56 | 61 | 0.3 | 0.2 | 14.5 | 11.5 | 25.9 | 2.8 | 3.1 | 18 |
| 1999 | Richmond | 33 | 22 | 5 | 4 | 254 | 210 | 464 | 55 | 44 | 0.2 | 0.2 | 11.5 | 9.5 | 21.1 | 2.5 | 2.0 | 6 |
| 2000 | Richmond | 33 | 22 | 11 | 6 | 240 | 212 | 452 | 82 | 52 | 0.5 | 0.3 | 10.9 | 9.6 | 20.5 | 3.7 | 2.4 | 9 |
| 2001 | Richmond | 33 | 25 | 12 | 9 | 234 | 230 | 464 | 75 | 65 | 0.5 | 0.4 | 9.4 | 9.2 | 18.6 | 3.0 | 2.6 | 7 |
| 2002 | Richmond | 33 | 16 | 4 | 2 | 118 | 134 | 252 | 44 | 31 | 0.3 | 0.1 | 7.4 | 8.4 | 15.8 | 2.8 | 1.9 | 0 |
| Career | 279 | 141 | 111 | 3356 | 2582 | 5938 | 824 | 613 | 0.5 | 0.4 | 12.0 | 9.3 | 21.3 | 3.0 | 2.2 | 114 | ||
| Legend | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| W | Wins | L | Losses | D | Draws | W% | Winning percentage | LP | Ladder position | LT | League teams | ||
| Season | Team | Games | W | L | D | W % | LP | LT |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | Essendon | 22 | 8 | 14 | 0 | 36.4% | 12 | 16 |
| 2009 | Essendon | 23 | 10 | 12 | 1 | 45.7% | 8 | 16 |
| 2010 | Essendon | 22 | 7 | 15 | 0 | 31.8% | 14 | 16 |
| Career totals | 67 | 25 | 41 | 1 | 38.1% | |||
