Chris Knights

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Chris Knights (born September 25, 1986) is an Australian rules footballer in the Australian Football League.

Knights, playing with the Adelaide Football Club (a team with one of the oldest AFL player lists) brings youth and what is considered by many scouts to be potential talent to the club. The dual Victorian Metropolitan under-18 representative (2003/4) was selected in the 2004 AFL Draft, towards the end of voting (no 56 overall), when players of his quality are supposedly a rare commodity.

Due to the unexpected success of senior coach Neil Craig's first full year, Knights was starved of opportunities in direct contrast to the planned youth policy, playing just two games in season 2005. This apparent setback may have had a silver lining, where he used the year to consolidate his skills and bulk up his frame, having an impressive debut for Woodville-West Torrens in the SANFL.

The 2006 pre season knockout competition (NAB Cup) represented an opportunity for Knights to prove himself a candidate for regular senior team selection, and it is one he has grabbed with both hands (and a deadly accurate left foot). During all three rounds of the cup, including a losing grand final, Knights has impressed the football media, who have tagged him as “an AFL star of the future”.

Offsetting the rosy outlook of the prolific ball winner, the coach has identified a lack of defensive skills as a key development area. However, with a maturity belying his age, it seems likely that Chris Knights will become a regular feature of the Adelaide Crows side well into the future.