Geelong’s VFL senior coach, Matthew Knights, spoke to AFL Live where he answered questions from Jimmy Bartel about his balancing act between the two leagues.

Overall Knights really enjoys his involvement in the AFL on match days and training during the week, as well as being the VFL coach.   

“I’m pretty lucky, I guess I have a hybrid role, I help out on AFL match days in the box and across the AFL training program during the week but then I step back into the VFL coaching role,” Knights said.

Knights concedes that dividing his time between the AFL listed players and the VFL list can be tricky, however he says the VFL top-up players are very patient and are constantly encouraging the younger recruits.  

“There (the VFL) I focus on the Academy players, which is predominately the one, two, three year players on the Geelong list, which might be Brad Hartman, Lincoln McCarthy, George Horlin-Smith, Jordan Schroder and those type of players, then to interact them with (the VFL list) Jack Hollmer, Jaxson Barham and Troy Selwood is certainly a big balancing act,” Knights explains.

“At times when players come back from rehab you might have five or seven changes from week-to-week in a VFL team and you have to balance it up, but we’ve managed to do a decent job over the last couple of years.

“I think the Geelong structure is maybe the envy of a lot of AFL clubs in the competition and I think the Geelong community certainly helps that. Not only do we get great support from Geelong itself but also the local clubs are really starting to support their players coming down and playing in the VFL program.”  

The permanent VFL players are very accommodating and our happy to move between positions or spend time off the field to give the younger AFL guys more of a go.

Knights really appreciates the group’s support and says many of them act as role models on and off the field, which has a positive impact on the players development as well as his job.

“They are important for a couple of reasons, the first reason is that they’ve really got the best interest of the players at heart and they don’t mind switching positions come match day, if it means the likes of Jackson Thurlow can spend more time in the midfield or Jordan Murdoch can develop on the wing,” Knights said.

“Those guys are really flexible in their thinking and it’s not always easy to think that way… and they also play really hard footy and our a great example for our younger players, they’re not only playing with them they’re also half coaching them which makes my job a lot easier.

The VFL will make their way to Casey Fields this Sunday to take on the Scorpions at 2pm.