THE SENSE of dread dawned on Brett Ratten in recent days.
St Kilda's internal review, which came after a second straight season out of the top eight had ended in a run of losses, saw the club engage sacked North Melbourne coach David Noble to assist its probe into its football operations.
On Thursday, Ratten met with Saints president Andrew Bassat earlier in the day. The writing was on the wall that his time was going to be up at the Saints, incredibly, despite signing a two-year extension until the end of 2024 just three months earlier.
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Later that day, he went into the club and was told his coaching stint, for the second time after his exit at Carlton, was going to end in brutal fashion. Some players were told but others were not as the news spread.
Only a week ago, Ratten was interviewing draft prospects at the NAB AFL Draft Combine at Marvel Stadium, and on Sunday was alongside Saints recruiters watching the players test at Margaret Court Arena. Four sleeps later, he had lost his job.
Inside the club there was a feeling the review would lead to a significant change. Bassat has been across the minutiae of things in recent weeks and the review was challenging for some in the crosshairs. Geoff Walsh was named the Saints' new head of football and wanted to catapult the club back into relevancy, but this move was not a Walsh decision.
The Saints made the finals once in Ratten's four years at the helm – when they progressed to the semi-final in 2020 – but his side won 11 games in 2022, one fewer than the Western Bulldogs and Carlton and two fewer than Richmond, who all have much stronger lists.
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Ratten has the right to feel let down. So too do St Kilda members questioning the timing of the contract extension and then the sacking, with a focus on new chief executive Simon Lethlean, who has taken on the job officially after long-time club chief Matt Finnis left recently with barely a mention.
Was Ratten's list any better than where it finished the past two years, in 10th position?
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The club consciously targeted high-priced recruits across the 2018, 2019 and 2020 seasons and few have worked. Across that time, St Kilda has drafted the fewest 18-year-olds in the AFL (nine). In comparison, Geelong and North Melbourne have had the most (17) with Port Adelaide next at 15.
Max King is a star and Callum Wilkie has been a terrific find but the majority of the Saints' best players remain Jack Steele (a trade in 2016), Jack Sinclair (a rookie in 2014), Rowan Marshall (a rookie in 2016), Tim Membrey (a delisted free agent in 2014) and Jade Gresham (a first-rounder in 2015).
The Saints admit their list needs a jump in class and quality and targeted Jordan De Goey, with Ratten a key part of their pitch to the Collingwood free agent across the year. You have to wonder if De Goey had chosen St Kilda (and it came very close to that) whether the Saints' board could have even contemplated moving Ratten on.
The club recently appointed Lenny Hayes as an assistant coach and he is now six weeks out from the pre-season starting without a senior coach at the club.
