HAWTHORN assistant coach Brett Ratten has returned to work after the tragic death of his son Cooper, and will take his place in the coach's box for Saturday's clash with the Brisbane Lions.
Ratten and son Tanner joined the Hawks on Friday as they travelled to Launceston ahead of the round 22 game.
The Ratten family was rocked by the tragic car accident that claimed the life of Cooper, 16, nearly two weeks ago.
The popular assistant returned to the club on Thursday to help the coaching team with preparation for Saturday's game.
Ratten's return is timely, given the Hawks lost another assistant in Brendon Bolton to the Carlton senior job this week.
"It's good for him to get back into some sort of routine, and they're very, very sad circumstances but at some point in time it's really good for him and his family that he gets back into the fold of a footy club," coach Alastair Clarkson said on Friday.
"There's no better environment than a footy club to get yourself back into the swing of things."
Hawthorn players and officials joined those from Carlton, where Ratten played his 255-game career from 1990-2003 and coached from 2007-2012, at Cooper's funeral on Monday.
Clarkson said it was good to see Ratten back at work and welcomed the addition of Tanner for the trip to Launceston.
"Tanner has been a big part of our footy club with 'Ratts' over the last three years too so it's a great chance for him to come down and spend some time with his dad and all of our players," he said.
"Whether it's illnesses or deaths of family members, we're all human and these sorts of things we're confronted with from time to time.
"This is a tragic set of circumstances. The club was out there in full force on Monday, with the Carlton footy club, and the footy world wanted to mourn with 'Ratts' on Monday."
While the Blues have decided interim coach John Barker will coach out the year, Clarkson said the fact the Hawks and Blues face off in round 23 made it untenable for Bolton to stay on beyond this week.
"We [would have] the Carlton coach sitting there as part of our coaching staff with the view he'd be preparing to coach against the club he's going to be coaching next year," he said.
"That changed the landscape a little bit and we sat down with 'Bolts' earlier in the week and worked out a plan based on what we thought was best and that suited him fine.
"He's got a big job to do, he knows he's got a lot of work to do, to roll the sleeves up and get into his role at Carlton as soon as he can.
"We just thought the transition was better happening sooner rather than later."
Clarkson said his sudden departure didn't make things easy but the Hawks would refer back to their mantra of everyone being replaceable when looking ahead to finals.
"You lose a soldier, you replace him with another one, whether it's a player or a coach or administrator," he said.
"Our club isn't about relying too heavily on any one individual.
"We know what to expect, we've got contingencies for this sort of stuff all the time in terms of other people stepping into the role, whether it's assistant coaches or with my illness last year, we've had a person there.
"As good a role as 'Bolts' played for us over the last six or seven years, we've got others [development coach Damian Carroll] who'll step into the role.
"We wish him well, he's been a fantastic contributor to our club but it's time for us to move on now."
