Brett Ratten
Brett Ratten (born 11 July 1971) is an Australian rules football coach and former player. From 2019 he has been the senior coach of the St Kilda Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL). He was previously the senior coach of the Carlton Football Club, the club he also played for. Playing career. Carlton Football Club. Originally from Yarra Glen, Ratten made his debut for Carlton Football Club in the fifteenth round of the 1990 season. In a career lasting 14 years, Ratten played mainly as an in-and-under midfielder. His unobtrusive style often escaped the  attention of media and umpires early in his career. Famously, he won Carlton's best and fairest award in the record-breaking premiership season of 1995, including a game in round 17 against Fitzroy when he amassed 44 disposals, but failed to poll a single Brownlow vote from the umpires for the entire season. In the 1999 season, Ratten was credited with 265 clearances, which (as of 2021) remains the highest on record by a considerable margin – the next-highest is only 192. Ratten won the Robert Reynolds Trophy (Carlton best and fairest) on three occasions: 1995, 1997, and in  a tie with Scott Camporeale in 2000. Ratten was a part of Carlton's premiership team in 1995. He played for Victoria in the State of Origin games in 1996 and 1997. He was awarded All-Australian selection in 1997, 2000 and 2001, firmly cementing his skill in the centre. Ratten was inducted into the Carlton Hall of Fame in 1999. In 2009, statistical analysis company Champion Data announced that Ratten averaged 126.1 ranking points per game during the 2000–2009 decade, the highest of any player in the league. Ratten's career was plagued by injury. During his time in  football, he had eight arthroscopes on his right knee, three arthroscopes on his left knee and a medial ligament. His shoulder was also badly damaged in 2003, which ultimately led to Ratten announcing his retirement in the middle of the 2003 season. After the retirement of Craig Bradley, Ratten was awarded the club's captaincy in 2002, a position he held until his own retirement. After his retirement, in the middle of the 2003 season, the captaincy was passed to Andrew McKay for the rest of the season. Coaching career. Melbourne Football Club assistant coach and Norwood Football Club. After  retirement from playing, Ratten spent one year as an assistant coach at the Melbourne Football Club under senior coach Neale Daniher for the 2004 season, before leaving to take a head coaching role at the Norwood Football Club in the Eastern Football League's Second Division. He coached there for two seasons. Carlton Football Club. Ratten returned to Carlton Football Club as an assistant coach under senior coach Denis Pagan for the 2007 season. On 24 July 2007, Carlton Football Club senior coach Denis Pagan was sacked during the middle of the season. Ratten was then appointed as caretaker senior  coach of Carlton Football Club for the remainder of the 2007 season. Carlton under Ratten lost the remaining six games of the 2007 season to finish in fifteenth place on the ladder. On 20 August 2007, Ratten was re-appointed as full-time Carlton Football Club senior coach, when he signed a contract until the end of 2009. In the 2008 season, Carlton under Ratten, finished in eleventh place on the ladder with ten wins and twelve losses, missing out of the finals. Under Ratten's coaching, Carlton returned to the finals after a long period of poor performances under  Pagan. Carlton reached the finals in the 2009 season, Ratten's second season, finishing seventh and ending a seven year finals drought, the longest in club history. However, Carlton were eliminated by Brisbane Lions in the elimination final in the 2009 finals series. His contract was extended until the end of 2011 as a result of this improved performance. Late in the 2010 season, Ratten came under scrutiny as a coach when Carlton had several big losses, but the club nevertheless reached the finals again, finishing eighth. Ratten began coaching from the boundary line rather than the coaches' box during  the season. Carlton were however eliminated by the Sydney Swans in the elimination final in the 2010 finals series. In the 2011 season, he took the team to fifth and an elimination final victory against Essendon, the club's first finals win for 10 years. However, Carlton were eliminated by West Coast Eagles in the semi-finals in the 2011 finals series. There had been speculation that renewal of Ratten's contract beyond 2011 was contingent on the club winning a final and his contract was extended to the end of 2013 after the season. Carlton's on-field performance  under Ratten in the 2012 season was inconsistent and the club missed the finals, finishing in tenth position on the ladder with eleven wins and eleven losses, after setting pre-season expectations of a top four finish, and there was constant speculation during the year that Ratten would be sacked as a result. After the second-last round of the season, in which Carlton suffered an upset loss against Gold Coast Suns and was mathematically eliminated from finals contention, the club confirmed that Ratten's contract would be terminated at the end of 2012, one year early. Including his six  games as caretaker coach, Ratten coached 120 games for Carlton, recording 60 wins, a draw and 59 losses, bringing a winning percentage to 50 percent. He was the third person to both play and coach over 100 senior games for the Carlton Football Club, after Ken Hands and Norm Clark. Ratten was then replaced by Mick Malthouse as Carlton Football Club senior coach. Hawthorn Football Club assistant coach. On 5 October 2012, Ratten accepted an assistant coaching position at the Hawthorn Football Club under senior coach Alastair Clarkson. He commenced in November 2012 and subsequently was part of the club 's 2013, 2014 and 2015 premiership coaching panel. Ratten left the Hawthorn Football Club at the end of the 2018 season. St Kilda Football Club. In 2018, St Kilda Football Club appointed Ratten as an assistant coach under senior coach Alan Richardson. Upon Richardson's resignation in 2019, Ratten was appointed the caretaker senior coach of St Kilda Football Club for the remainder of the 2019 season. In September 2019, after the end of the 2019 season, Ratten was appointed as full-time St Kilda Football Club senior coach. In his first full season as St Kilda senior coach, the  competition was disrupted due to the COVID-19 pandemic, with the season first suspended between March and June, then largely relocated to Queensland as the pandemic took hold in Victoria. Despite being based in Noosa for the length of the season, Ratten took the Saints to their first finals series since 2011, winning their elimination final against the at the Gabba by 3 points before losing to in the semi final. Personal life. Ratten's 16 year old son Cooper was killed in a car crash on 16 August 2015. Statistics. Playing statistics. ! | 1990 ! | 1991 ! | 1992 ! | 1993  ! | 1994 ! | 2018 ! | 1996 ! | 1997 ! | 1998 ! | 1999 ! | 2000 ! | 2001 ! | 2002 ! | 2003 !| Career ! 255 ! 117 ! 98 ! 3087 ! 2609 ! 5696 ! 748 ! 752 ! 0.5 ! 0.4 ! 12.1 ! 10.2 ! 22.3 ! 2.9 ! 2.9 Coaching statistics. ! | 2007* ! | 2008 ! | 2009 ! | 2010 ! | 2011 ! | 2012 ! | 2019* ! | 2020 ! | 2021 !| Career totals ! 167 ! 84 ! 82 ! 1 ! 50.6% !| "* = Caretaker coach"