ONE OF the burning AFL issues throughout 2011 has been the constant conjecture over Brett Ratten's future at Carlton.

It all began in February, when Blues president Stephen Kernahan publicly declared Ratten - who was coming off contract at the end of this season - needed to lead Carlton to a finals victory this year.

Kernahan, not unreasonably, expected the club to take another step forward after losing in the first week of the finals in the past two seasons.

But, just as Western Bulldogs president David Smorgon's comments about his club's grand final aims this year heaped pressure on Rodney Eade, Kernahan's remark shadowed Ratten all year.

But Ratten handled it all well and, following their 62-point belting of Essendon in an elimination final and Saturday's gallant three-point semi-final defeat to West Coast, Ratten appears to have secured his future, according to a report in the Herald Sun.

"I've said it before and I'll say it again - we wanted improvement this year and we've got that," Kernahan said in the article.

"Our coaching staff have been fantastic. If anyone says we haven't improved from last year, I'd say we have."

Kernahan added that the board would meet early this week and "put something on paper", expected to be a two-year contract extension.

If Kernahan did have any remaining doubts, they were eradicated by the manner of Carlton's performance against the Eagles.

"A lot of sides would have gone to Perth last night and the Eagles would've knocked them off," Kernahan said.

"I'm really happy with what our blokes gave. I think our blokes gave everything they had in the tank."

Considering the raft of sackings in 2011, there is some refreshment in seeing a coach rewarded for a job well done.

Fighting like Cats and Eagles
There appears to be a little heat simmering ahead of West Coast's preliminary final against Geelong this Saturday.

An article in The West Australian has revisited the rivalry between the two sides from the 1990s, saying Geelong has "never forgotten" its Grand Final losses to West Coast in 1992 and 1994.

It also suggests the Cats are "still seething" from their loss to the Eagles at Patersons Stadium in round 16 this year.

Geelong defender Harry Taylor may also have fired up the men from the west a little, basically suggesting all things West Coast are a case of 'out of sight, out of mind' for those on the east coast.

Taylor labelled the Eagles' turnaround from wooden-spooners to top four in 2011 as "pretty good", but said his Geelong outfit had no intentions of missing a chance at another Grand Final berth.

"We tend to miss out on a lot of the West Coast information over here," Taylor said.

"To turn it around from wooden spoon last year to top four, I'm not sure where that ranks in the history books.

"But it's a pretty good effort and I guess having a senior list and some younger players, they're in a similar situation to what we are.

"But once you get a taste for the finals and you know you're a chance, you start to dream a bit more about what could happen.

"Then you quickly wind yourself back because if you look too far ahead you can get caught up and lose sight of the smaller things while you're worrying about the bigger picture.

"That's when you go away from playing well. I learnt that very early in my career and I've tried to pass that on to as many of our younger guys as I can."

In short
A report in Fairfax newspapers speculates on the possibility of the Sydney Swans taking a punt on Brendan Fevola. Following the mid-season retirement of Daniel Bradshaw, too much heat was put on young centre half-forward Sam Reid to carry the load for the Swans. While the article does say a move for Fevola would be highly unlikely, it does suggest he could be the difference between scraping into the finals and a top-four finish. It also says Fevola could help publicity-wise, with the Swans to compete with Greater Western Sydney for column space in 2012.

News Ltd newspapers have reported on the results of their SuperFooty All Australian team, with St Kilda's Stephen Milne and Fremantle youngster Nathan Fyfe listed as the 'bolters'. From almost 50,000 votes, the team includes six Magpies, three Hawks, two Cats and just one Eagle, Dean Cox.

Former Western Bulldogs and Sydney Swans coach Rodney Eade has penned his opinion that West Coast has "the talent and structures" to trouble Geelong in their preliminary final on Saturday. Writing in the Geelong Advertiser, Eade says the key battle in the game will be between Cox and Nic Naitanui and the Cats' Brad Ottens and Trent West.

The views in this article are those of the author and not necessarily of the AFL or the clubs