Ruthlessness a Blues strength: Ratten
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A remarkably graceful Brett Ratten has praised the ruthlessness which led to his sacking as Carlton coach as part of what makes the AFL club great.
As a Carlton favourite son, who had a year left on his contract and was dealt a savage hand by player injuries this season after three consecutive years of finals, Ratten had cause to feel harshly treated.
Even Blues president Stephen Kernahan – Ratten’s 1995 premiership captain, who had to deliver the bad news – admitted as much.
But it was Ratten who did most to lift the mood and justify the decision while sitting alongside Kernahan at a media conference on Thursday to announce his sacking.
“This club has been built on success and playing finals,” Ratten told reporters.
“As a club, we set some really strong goals at the start of the season to play finals and we didn’t achieve that.
“There’s probably circumstances there, but the club has been ruthless in its quest for success and that’s one of the great strengths of the Carlton Football Club.
“That’s why it does have 16 premierships.”
Ratten said while he had hoped he could survive, he sensed that was unlikely after the Blues’ shock loss to Gold Coast on Saturday night.
But Ratten said talking to young Carlton player Sam Rowe, who is being treated for testicular cancer, and reflecting on a Blues staff member who had died of cancer, put his sacking into perspective.
“We’re very fortunate in life,” he said.
Ratten said he decided to coach out the season against St Kilda on Sunday because he didn’t want to let emotion stop him completing something he had committed to.
“I don’t need to hide, I need to finish the year and do the job that I was put in place to do,” he said.
Ratten, a first-time coach when the Blues appointed him late in the 2007 season, said he considered coaching to be his career and would not rule out seeking the vacant Port Adelaide head coaching job.
“I would be open to sit down and have a look at a lot of things,” he said.
“I’ll just wait and see but I’ll keep my eyes open and see what happens.”
© AAP 2013
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The Crowd Says (6) | Page 1 of Comments
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August 31st 2012 @ 11:10am
brendan said | August 31st 2012 @ 11:10am | Report comment
All credit to Ratten if he has the class to acknowledge that under his watch the team didn’t meet the required standard expected by the board it augars wll for any future role he has in football.Worsfold is the only favourite son in recent memory that has led his side to a flag .Maybe as a coach you perform better at a club you have not been a player at.
August 31st 2012 @ 11:43am
Strummer Jones said | August 31st 2012 @ 11:43am | Report comment
Interesting question you raise about coaches performing better at clubs they didnt play at.
Worsfold and Roos (and arguably Williams) go against this theory, though many others not if you look at past 20 years. A more thorough analysis would include top 8 finishes.
August 31st 2012 @ 11:58am
brendan said | August 31st 2012 @ 11:58am | Report comment
Strummer Jones you could include Roos but IMO he is more Fitzroy than Sydney a a player .Voss and Hird are also struggling as coaches perhaps the playing experience at one club combined with the current structure at the new club the person is coaching works best.Chris Scott experienced the decline of Brisbane as a player so as a coach he gets as much experience into the young players as possible resulting in an unexpected premiership last year and Geelong’s still in final contention this year.
August 31st 2012 @ 7:09pm
Steve said | August 31st 2012 @ 7:09pm | Report comment
‘ Ruthlessness’ sounds good, but it’s often used as a synonym for misguided gesturing- getting rid of decent men in response to things that weren’t necessarily their fault, and looking for a magic bullet to fix all the problems. It’s not something that necessarily strengthens a club: see Brendan Fevola at Brisbane for details. If Ratten had shown himself to be a lesser coach than Malthouse, and they’d ditched him despite his years of loyalty, it would be ruthlessness. As it is, it looks like they’re ditching a good coach for someone who’s superiority is debatable. ‘Rash’ might be a better word for that decision.
Time will tell, and the Blues probably have enough quality to make a good go of it in the future, but Ratten comes out of this looking stronger than I thought he would; not so sure about the club itself.
August 31st 2012 @ 11:03pm
Floyd Calhoun said | August 31st 2012 @ 11:03pm | Report comment
Sounds like a Nazi, Kamikaze, or Dalek who is willing to self-destruct for the ’cause’! Praise for the ruthlessness? It’s a footy club for God’s sake! Not a nice one, agreed, but still just a footy club!
September 1st 2012 @ 7:44pm
TW said | September 1st 2012 @ 7:44pm | Report comment
According to the local footy show on 6PR this Sat morning here are the “likely moves” –
Malthouse to Coach Carlton – Was actually decided 6 weeks ago
Cloke from Collingwood to Carlton – This will cause a stir – Check out Eddys blood pressure
Ratten to Port Power- Ratten had this in mind at his pressy
Kernahan (President) and others to go from Carlton
Mick will clean out coaching staff at Carlton
Tippett from Crows to Gold Coast
Boak from Port back to Melbourne
Let us see how many they get right or not