According to separate reports, Brett Ratten “knows he will be sacked” as Carlton coach and is “100 per cent certain” this week’s game against St Kilda will be his last in charge of the club.
Now Mick Malthouse, increasingly lurking in the background as the season has progressed, appears set to take over another powerhouse Melbourne club.
The club is set to make an announcement at 9:30am Thursday morning, with The Herald Sun reporting via Facebook Wednesday afternoon, “a shattered Ratten … has begun breaking the news to his close friends and family.”
“Carlton is expected to appoint Michael Malthouse as its coach for 2013.”
Newsbreaker Damian Barrett has told Triple M that Ratten doesn’t expect to be coaching after this week.
Carlton are yet to confirm anything. They will hold a press conference tomorrow morning to “clarify speculation regarding Brett Ratten’s coaching future”.
Reading between the lines, it’s a matter of time before the trigger is pulled.
These reports follow Mike Sheahan telling On The Couch that he understood a Malthouse-Mark Williams coaching team will lead Carlton next year.
Channel Ten have also reported that Malthouse will lead the Blues.
Expectations were high for the Blues this season, at least in some quarters. One prominent journalist said they’d win the flag, while internal expectations would’ve been to at least match last year’s effort of fifth place and a finals win.
The club ultimately missed out on finals altogether and last week completed footy’s biggest sin these days: losing to an expansion side.
Injuries, however, have played a huge part in these results. In addition, the seemingly widespread notion among clubs that teams must always improve year-to-year – as I’ve long argued – is a truly ridiculous one.
Perhaps, though, missing the eight completely and capitulating against the Gold Coast Suns goes beyond that.
And when you’ve got someone like Malthouse making not one or two but three rounds of subtle comments regarding his desire to coach again, the coach is bound to feel the heat.
AFL clubs are becoming increasingly intolerant of coaches not delivering results as quickly as desired. If the same criteria was applied to recent premiers like Collingwood, Geelong and Hawthorn, the likes of Malthouse, Mark Thompson and Alistair Clarkson mightn’t have been around long enough to lead their clubs to glory.
However, when a capable replacement is waiting in the wings – see the Ross Lyon-to-Fremantle situation last year – replacing the coach can become too attractive an option to pass up.
Where to now for Ratten? Two words instantly spring to mind: Port Adelaide. The only question is would he want to inherent a list as far back in its development was as the Blues were when he took over?
He’d be an ideal candidate, that’s for sure.
Where to for the Blues? Logic says the only way is up. Their list is better than what this year’s results suggest.
However, a large part of Malthouse’s success at Collingwood was his close relationship with his players. Will the same bonds be able to be formed at Carlton in time for them to be a threat next year?
This is just one of a number of questions that come to mind.
Certainly, if all this does eventuate, it’d be a bold move from a powerhouse club.
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