2014 EFL Pre-Season Wiki | Tomorrow: Rowville
by Nick Brown (@nickbbrown)
KNOX coach Chris Adolph knows the majority of people outside the club’s inner sanctum “don’t rate us”. But he isn’t fazed the slightest.
As a first-year senior coach of a young side, Adolph admits there will be challenges, though he is confident those doubters will respect his side in 2014.
“We aren’t really worried about the external talk,” he said.
KNOX JUNIOR PREVIEW TO COME…
“We are happy for all the talk to be about Balwyn, Vermont, Scoresby and Noble Park. We are happy to just fly under the radar.
“I think we’ll surprise a few teams this year. We know they don’t rate us, but they’ll realize they have played us when they have.”
There is a very good chance that Knox will surprise a few teams this season and, perhaps, silence a few critics.
That’s very achievable for the Falcons, who are remaining very realistic about where they are at.
Where they are at is exactly why the club saw Adolph, a former development coach with VFL side Williamstown, as the right person to take over the reigns.
“I wasn’t exactly hunting for a senior coaching job, but I put in for this and, as we spoke more, decided we were a good fit for each other,” he said.
“I am not just here for one year, it is a two or three year thing. We need to keep building and keep improving each week.”
PLAYER REGISTRATION ACTIVATION
Adolph is hopeful that improvement will come from both the individual and from the team as a whole as he introduces a new game plan.
The Falcons are renowned for being a heavily defensive side, but that’s set to change in 2014.
“It’ll almost be the complete opposite,” Adolph said on his new game plan.
“In the past they have been really defensive and haven’t really had the ability to score.
“We’ll focus on the ball movement and we’ll still have a defensive aspect as well, but it will be a bolder game plan with more risk.”
That bold and attacking game plan should work well with new recruit and former Essendon, Carlton and Geelong star Justin Murphy up forward. The experience and natural ability of Murphy sees him as a headline recruit, but he isn’t the only key signing at Knox.
The Falcons have captured the signatures of several stars with experience including Ryan Minahan, Joel McKee and Tim Crespin.
It’s these inclusions that Adolph believes will outweigh the players the club has lost during the offseason.
“I am more than comfortable with the players we have recruited and lost. I think we have probably gained extra,” Adolph said.
“We have plenty of young players coming through and our average age is probably about 25 or 26, so we just need to top up or top end players.
“So that’s why we targeted higher level players, there’s no point recruiting players from a lower division. It’s either the same division or higher.”
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Now with the recruiting done and a handful of practice matches under their belt, the Falcons are content with the build up to the 2014 season.
Though whilst they have already overcome some challenges, Adolph knows plenty more lie ahead. But he says bring it on.
“We are travelling along all right at this stage, but we won’t know until we play the rest of the division one sides,” he said.
“We have Lilydale at Lilydale in Round 1 and that will be our real test.
“We are coming from a long way back, but we are enjoying the challenge and as I have said I think we will surprise a few.”
