All involved at Windy Hill have come under intense scrutiny in recent weeks, none more so than the coach, but a proud Knights credited his players for righting the ship on Saturday night.
“I really thank them for holding the club together in the last three weeks because those are the people - the 47 players - who have held the club together,” Knights said.
“They’ve kept rocking up to training, they’ve kept supporting the game plan, they’ve kept getting out there and working at their own games so I can’t thank them enough for the last two to three weeks in testing times.
“The last three weeks have certainly not been us. It’s been disappointing and we haven’t paid with much dare or much spirit. But I felt we had a great preparation week on the track with a few circuit breakers early in the week
“The last three weeks have really hurt everyone and our supporters who have watched would no doubt have been really disappointed, and so they should have been with the way we played, but I think we’ve gone a small way tonight with winning back a little bit of respect.”
The Dons were made to work desperately hard for their sixth win of the season despite the injury-enforced chaos in the Roos’ camp. Nathan Grima and Daniel Pratt were late withdrawals and key playmaker Daniel Wells joined them on the sidelines when he strained a quad late in the warm-up.
“To be frank Daniel Wells is a great player so he came out of their line-up and it was a plus for us obviously,” Knights conceded.
“We got one early in the game with Daniel injuring himself and the margin was very skinny so we’re realistic to know that even though we won it could have gone either way.”
Despite the focus on Knights’ future at the club brought about by the run of losses, the coach maintained he “never once” doubted himself thanks to the support he received behind the scenes.
While still not out of the woods, he felt the trying period had yielded plenty of information about the club and its detractors.
“I said in a press conference last week it gives us an understanding of who’s with us and beside us, but it also gave us an understanding of who sat on the other side of the line,” he said.
“Who was happy to ping us and who was happy to have a crack at us. People have declared their hands in the last three weeks which is something very refreshing because we find out who’s with us and who’s not.
“It’s not about myself - it’s irrelevant. People can put up headlines and keep whacking me, but the bottom line is I’m here to protect my players and support them. If people want to keep doing that then so be it - I’ve got no control over that.”
