Knights has since spoken to AFL umpires’ boss Jeff Gieschen, who has been through the decisions that so irked the Bombers coach they prompted him to not only speak about them in his post-match press conference, but also cast a glare in the umpires’ direction at the three-quarter time break of his side’s loss to Melbourne.
On Tuesday, the Essendon coach acknowledged he was wrong on a couple of fronts.
“On reflection, as a leader of the football club and a leader in the community, I don’t think the actions at three-quarter time befitted that role as a leader,” Knights said.
“I definitely shouldn’t have looked out towards the umpires because I have good relationships with those guys, and also in the press conference after the game I raised some isolated incidents or decisions at the time and that’s not the forum [to do that] either.
“If you do that, you do it behind closed doors which I’ve done previously.
“So on both fronts, I think from my perspective I got it wrong. I’m happy to put my hand up in regards to that.
“What I should have been focusing on was my three-quarter time address and getting around the players.”
Knights was openly critical of a couple of decisions following his team’s 19-point loss to the Demons.
During the match, the Bombers conceded a staggering seven 50m penalties which all resulted in goals to the opposition.
Knights said he accepted the match-day decisions and the Bombers simply needed to work on their discipline.
“If Jeff said the seven 50s were correct then I take that on face value definitely, and make sure I’m educating my players to not infringe again,” he said. “We can’t afford that as a team.
The coach acknowledged his three-quarter time stare wasn’t a good look.
“You understand how important umpires are for the game,” he said.
“I’ve got a son who plays under-10 footy and you need umpires coming through to give those young people guidance.”
