[1] Although considered unlucky not to win the game's highest individual honour, the Brownlow Medal - having twice finished runner-up in the vote count - Knights was nonetheless part of three VFL premiership teams during a highly successful era for the Hawks.
However, due to his busy schedule of constantly commuting to and from Melbourne for training and games with Hawthorn, Knights was unable to attain the academic grades he wanted.
[3] Subsequently, Hawthorn coach John Kennedy sr. suggested that Knights repeat his year 12 studies at Camberwell High School.
[3] He was in his own words a "quiet and shy" country kid when he arrived at Hawthorn, and it would be champion rover Peter Crimmins who helped Knights settle in at the club.
[7] Knights was moved briefly to full-forward in 1972 after a serious knee injury to Peter Hudson forced Hawthorn to experiment in the position before finally settling on Michael Moncrieff.
He shrugged off that disappointment to be one of Hawthorn's best players in the 1976 VFL Grand Final triumph, later joining some of his teammates at Peter Crimmins' bedside.
[11][12] From 1977 onwards Knights was frequently rested up forward to reduce the risk of injuries, but still did enough great work at centre half-back to finish one vote behind Malcolm Blight in the 1978 Brownlow Medal count.
After being knocked out while playing in defence, Knights was moved forward in the last quarter, where he took a series of fine marks and kicked two goals to help secure Hawthorn's fourth Premiership.
Knights reached the 250-game milestone the following season against St Kilda, gathering 23 possessions and kicking two goals,[15] but a knee injury restricted him to just three further games.
Yet again, Knights would bounce back from the disappointment to finish his career in a semblance of style, kicking a bag of goals to help Hawthorn defeat Carlton in the reserves Grand Final.
The club won their first game, and although expectations of the new side were low, it was considered a significant achievement that the team was able to avoid finishing last in their first season.
Besides the substandard quality of the training and playing facilities, lack of assistance from the VFL, and squad disharmony, Knights also had limited control over team selection; part way through the 1988 VFL season, he wanted star signing Warwick Capper dropped from the senior team due to poor form, but was overruled by club president Paul Cronin.
[19] Knights was sacked as Brisbane Bears senior coach with seven games remaining in the 1989 season[20] and replaced with team psychologist, Paul Feltham.