Eastern league coaching great Denis Knight accepts two-year country deal

NOBLE Park and Norwood premiership coach and former VFA champion Denis Knight is going bush to resume his coaching career.

TRIPLE Eastern league premiership mentor Denis Knight will resume his coaching career next season.

The former Dandenong and Springvale VFA/VFL star this afternoon put pen to paper at Gippsland league club Morwell.

The Tigers won premierships under Vermont senior coach Harmit Singh in 2013-14 but have mostly struggled since.

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They’re trumpeting Knight’s appointment for the next two years as a coup.

Knight last coached in 2017, finishing up a five-year term at Norwood.

He had steered the Norsemen to their first Division 1 premiership in 2014 and to another grand final in 2015.

“Denis has been an outstanding coach and on-field leader for the past five seasons and has been an integral part of the club’s success over this historic period,” Norwood president Mark Etherington told Leader at the time.

Knight was named Norwood’s coach in the team of the decade.

Denis Knight coaching Norwood in the Eastern league.

He also steered Noble Park to the 2003-04 premierships — winning the 2003 league best and fairest in the process — after becoming its first coach in the Eastern league in 2000.

Moving to Queensland, he also had stints at Broadbeach and Labrador.

A premiership player at Dandenong and Springvale, Knights was widely regarded as the best VFA player of the 1990s.

He was chosen in the association team of the decade and also the Dandy and Vales teams of the century.

Knight told Leader today: “Coaching is something I’ve always done and I enjoy and I can’t wait for the challenge, to be honest.

“It’s something different, it’s something new.’’

He said he had never coached in a country league and there was “a bit of travel involved, but it’s part of the reason I’ve embraced it, that new challenge’’.

“When you’ve done something before, part of going forward is finding that new challenge.’’

Denis Knight was Noble Park’s inaugural coach in the Eastern league.

Knight watched a Morwell game late in the season and said he saw encouraging signs.

Morwell president Paul Spagnolo said: “The club is very pleased with the appointment. We started the process of finding a new coach over two months ago and were immediately impressed with what Denis had to offer from the moment we first met.

“We think we’re incredibly lucky to be appointing a coach of such quality and believe the experience and professionalism that Denis brings to the club is second to none.

“The coaching selection subcommittee felt it was important to name a replacement in a timely fashion in order to start our 2019 campaign as early as possible.

“Given the fact the season has only wrapped up two weeks ago, naming a new coach now gives us time to turn our focus to recruiting and planning for 2019

“One of the main attributes that attracted us to Denis is his ability to grow and develop teams over a number of years. We believe we have a good bunch of young senior players along with some quality juniors coming through over the next couple of years. With a coach of the calibre of Denis these players will be given the best opportunity to maximise their potential.”

Denis Knight in Morwell this afternoon.