The early season speculation about St Kilda coach Brett Ratten’s job went unnoticed by the man himself, who insists the pressure is always there.
Ratten is out of contract at season’s end and the Saints’ round 1 defeat to Collingwood, after an underwhelming 2021 campaign, sparked suggestions he might be up against it to retain the role.
But St Kilda has won four-straight matches since – over fellow top-four side Fremantle in Perth, Richmond, Hawthorn and Gold Coast – to be one of the AFL’s form teams ahead of a Friday night date with the Giants.
“There’s still a lot of work to do. (Job security is) always an issue when you’re a coach,” Ratten said.
“To be frank, I really respect the media, but I don’t watch too much of it and I don’t look at it. You’re never as good as you think you are and you’re never as bad as you think you are.
“So, for me, I don’t get caught up in it. I don’t know what they’re saying about our club and I’m not fussed.”
Ratten, who led the Saints to the finals in 2020, said it was important as senior coach to remain level regardless of how his side was performing.
“You don’t want to go over the top with the wins, and the losses you don’t want to be too flat,” he said.
“You’re trying to keep that balance and in your own head is really critical, especially being a leader of the footy club.”
Ratten, who spent last week in the AFL’s health and safety protocols, and senior assistant Brendon Lade have highlighted a mid-season meeting in Sydney last year as the catalyst for St Kilda’s form revival.
“We just went through some key areas on what we wanted to do and where we rated ourselves against where we want to be,” he said.
“It showed some gaps in our performances and not just on the field but off the field as well. And that wasn‘t just players, that was staff.
“We were a lot like snakes and ladders last year. We’d take two steps forwaxjmtzywrd, one back; we’d play a good quarter, we’d play a good half; we’d play a poor half and we’d win one week and then we’d lose the next.
“It was a good break, pause, to just reflect … it was nice to bring it right in and focus on what we had to focus on – and that’s been the difference.”
Jimmy Webster, who, like Ratten, missed the Suns game in Covid protocols, will return against Greater Western Sydney but Zak Jones has contracted the virus and his comeback game will be delayed.
Webster is among the Saints’ options to man Giants superstar Toby Greene, who returns after missing the first five rounds through suspension.
“The big thing is he’s been out for six weeks. He would have done work back at home, and done a fair bit, but he’s got to front up and play and the pressure will be hot,” Ratten said of Greene.
“But he is a star of the competition, so we’ll monitor what he does and his influence on the game.
“It might not be about quantity for him – it might be just all quality. And that’s what he is, so we’ll have to watch that as well.”
