BRETT Ratten will weigh up at the end of the season whether he continues as a member of North Melbourne's coaching panel after steering the Roos through half of this year.

Ratten coached North Melbourne for 10 games this season, handing back the reins to Alastair Clarkson last weekend after sitting in for the four-time premiership coach as he took a mental health break away from the game.

The former St Kilda and Carlton coach had been at North Melbourne in a part-time capacity with the club's midfield group and on matchdays before Clarkson stepped away from North ahead of round 10 this season.

Ratten had been working three days a week with the Roos before jumping back into the coaching hot seat for the third time, having also planned to plant trees with a friend's business. 

After his brilliant playing career at Carlton, Ratten won the top job there to take on the coaching position after being an interim coach following Denis Pagan's exit. A similar situation unfolded at St Kilda where he superseded Alan Richardson as coach after being in the interim role there.

Alastair Clarkson and Brett Ratten during the R21 match between North Melbourne and Melbourne at Blundstone Arena on August 6, 2023. Picture: Getty Images/AFL Photos

His 10 games coaching the Roos this season saw him lift his coaching tally to 198 games, but speaking after his final appearance at the helm in round 20, Ratten said he was "one in a million" to coach again.

"It would be very surprising, I've really got not that much ambition to be a senior coach," he said.

Clarkson last week thanked Ratten for his stint in the coaching chair.

"For Ratts and Jo and the extended Ratten family to make the commitment to step in in my absence, and not knowing in the initial stages whether it was going to be one week, one month, one year, because I didn't even know at that point of time," Clarkson said. 

"Him and I go back a fair stretch. Just like any commitment in a friendship, I hope that I've been able to help him along the journey and I know for certain he has been able to help me. No greater example of that than the last 10 or 12 weeks."

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Coaching panels around the competition are heading into their period of change, with Richmond's plans to appoint a first-time senior coach to replace Damien Hardwick likely to lead to cascade of movement within the assistant coaching ranks.

Gold Coast's direct pursuit of Hardwick to fill its coaching vacancy will also have an impact on the landscape, with his predecessor Stuart Dew expected to be a target for an assistant role.