It puts beyond doubt that the players are solidly behind their coach, and that the club has no plans to replace Brett Ratten at the end of the year.
Much as we like to lay the blame on Brett Ratten for the 3 losses since the bye, my analysis of the mostly average/ordinary list suggests to me that St Kilda has performed in the first 11 rounds way above reasonable expectations which reflects well on the coach - yes, I have been mystified by some of the selections and critical of the club's terrible player development, but that is not the sole responsibility of the senior coach, and in fact the club has a fair bit of work to improve its list to be considered in the same league as the top teams.
Saints boss Simon Lethlean expects club to re-sign coach Brett Ratten by Sam Landsberger
"St Kilda’s faith in Brett Ratten has not wavered and the club still expects to re-sign its senior coach despite dropping out of the top eight after three consecutive defeats.
But the Saints did assess the AFL coaching landscape – which includes free agent Alastair Clarkson– before deciding they already had the right man in charge.
“We’ve been consistent in saying for where we’re at now with our program and our list, we think ‘Ratts’ is our man,” incoming chief executive Simon Lethlean said on Monday.
“I doubt anyone would have challenged us on that fortnight ago. Clearly, that’s a debate that can now happen on the back of our form.
“But we aren’t as reactive internally perhaps as the external football world is.
“We’ll keep progressing down the path as we’ve said we will with Brett and his management.
“We’re still going down that path and we’re doing that with the right amount of diligence that we should.”
Club champion Nick Riewoldt recently urged the Saints to have a crack at Clarkson.
Lethlean responded: “I hope Nick will understand that when you go through a process of looking to re-sign or consider your current coach, a part of that process is to do your due diligence across the market that’s available for coaching.
“We’ve certainly done that. But we’ve put our focus now into making Brett better and making our program better and focusing on how we go forward with him.”
Interestingly, Lethlean was clear on what the Saints’ list required.
“We have a list that needs to improve and needs to find game-impacting players to be able to compete at the really pointy end to beat the best teams and to also change momentum in games,” he said on SEN.
“We can’t go to the well every time with (Jack) Steele. We can’t expect Max King at his young age to wrestle every game back for you when the ball movement is not what it should be.
“That’s all part of list management across the next few months.”
That appeared to be a perfect description for Collingwood free agent Jordan De Goey.
Only two players in the AFL have averaged at least 20 disposals, 400m gained and a goal a game this year – De Goey and Marcus Bontempelli.
De Goey, 26, is also ranked No.2 for clearances for all midfielder-forwards, according to Champion Data, behind only Tom Liberatore.
Asked specifically about De Goey, Lethlean reiterated that he would be assessed along with all possible targets.
“It was incorrectly reported last week we’d offered a five-year contract, which is completely wrong,” Lethlean said.
“This time of year the process for all clubs is to assess all free agents and out-of-contract players and we’re certainly doing that.
“We’re no more progressed in that assessment with him than we are with anyone else.
“I do know he’s a very good player – he does impact games.”
The Saints’ return of 4.8 (33) in Saturday night’s 51-point loss at the SCG was their lowest score in more than six years.
They took just five marks inside 50m, generating one behind, as King was let down by poor ball movement.
Lethlean praised the improved effort against Sydney after last week’s shock loss to Essendon.
But he admitted the club’s game plan was starting to get figured out.
“I think some clubs are playing us a lot better as well and probably unpicked our system a bit better than perhaps the way we bounced out of the blocks in the first six or seven weeks,” Lethlean said.
“We were quite stagnant when we won the ball (against Sydney), we didn’t have much flow.
“So we need to get our midfield a bit more energized and take the game on a bit more.
“Our pressure is critical. I think we’re well-acknowledged as a team that plays its best footy when that pressure is high.
“Clubs keeping the ball off us has made it a bit more difficult.”
St Kilda’s fitness levels have been strong under impressive new performance and conditioning boss Nick Walsh.
Their first seven wins this year all came after falling at least 11 points behind.
Lethlean said that indicated the Saints were never truly a top-four team.
“The first 10 rounds we won five games coming from behind at half time, which does suggest that we weren’t a dominant top-four team across those 10 weeks,” Lethlean said.
“We were getting results through effort and hard work and maximizing our moments in games.
“We weren’t controlling games the whole way through.
“It probably shows you we are in that six to 10 bracket that we are right now.
“We certainly set our sights on playing finals this year, right from the outset. And we’re still giving ourselves a good chance to do that.”
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‘We love Ratts’: Why Saints coach is not to blame for slump - by Chris Cavanagh"St Kilda captain Jack Steele says out-of-contract coach Brett Ratten is not to blame for a mid-season form slump that has left the club in danger of missing finals.
Former St Kilda champion Brendon Goddard labelled the club’s 51-point loss to Sydney on Saturday night “horrific”, with the Saints going 63 minutes between goals and managing just four majors for the match.
The third-straight defeat followed losses to Essendon (35 points) and Brisbane (21 points) and leaves St Kilda outside the top-eight with eight games to play.
The Saints — who started the season with an 8-3 record — face a tough run home which includes five more clashes against current top-eight sides in Carlton, Fremantle, Geelong, Brisbane and Sydney.
Steele said that the side would work hard on the track this week to rectify its issues and the playing group needed to take responsibility for the current woes.
“I’d love to have him (Ratten) on as a coach. We love Ratts and what he’s doing,” Steele said onSunday.
“Ratts is definitely up for the job and we’ve got to support him as best we can as players and start performing because we love him and what he’s doing for us but we’re not really doing him justice at the moment.”
Discussions on a new deal for the coach commenced earlier this year, with Ratten saying in May that he was “very relaxed” about his contract situation.
Ball use going forward was the problem for St Kilda against Sydney, with the visitors managing only five marks inside-50 from 44 entries at the SCG on Saturday night.
Asked about key forward Max King’s quiet performance — which saw him kick just one behind from eight disposals — Ratten said Tony Lockett or Jason Dunstall would have struggled in the same position.
“Good luck to Max,” Ratten said.
“He had no chance. I felt for him tonight. He had to wear the brunt of our ball movement and the way that we moved the ball. It would have been pretty frustrating and he’s only a fourth-year player. We kicked the ball so badly to him.”
The Saints will regain ruckman Paddy Ryder (managed) and speedster Brad Hill (personal leave) for Friday night’s crunch clash with the Blues.
“The bit that there could be a bit of upside as we get back Ryder and Hill next week, and that’ll bring a lot of energy and experience back into the group,” Ratten said."
