Inside Brett Ratten’s return to coaching at North Melbourne after St Kilda sacking

North Melbourne has had five separate coaches in 32 months, lost a prized No. 1 pick and dealt with a number of other off-field issues. Can the club recover?

Brett Ratten will be North Melbourne’s interm coach.

Brett Ratten thought about going cold turkey.

About stepping away from the AFL environment that had twice delivered him footy’s most savage fate by marching him out the door.

Blindsided to be sacked by St Kilda less than a 100 days after signing a contract extension, he carefully considered his options.

His St Kilda payout meant he didn’t need to immediately enter the workforce.

Let alone diving headfirst back into an AFL industry where Carlton and St Kilda had sacked him — both times after double-figure wins the previous season.

Yet a month after that sacking, Alastair Clarkson’s pestering led to him committing to a part-time role in October that will see him this weekend coaching his 189th AFL game.

Even the decision to reunite with Clarkson was another tribute to Ratten’s resilience and grace, given Clarkson’s Hawthorn had moved him out as an assistant coach in 2018 in a move that saw him cross to Moorabbin.

Yet as North Melbourne football boss Todd Viney said on Thursday, Ratten never hesitated to step in for his mate Clarkson when offered the role late on Wednesday night.

Brett Ratten was surprisingly sacked by the Saints last year. Picture: Will Russell/AFL Photos via Getty Images

“When I made that phone call I was very understanding if he said no because of the pressures this job entails and the journey he has been on. I understand the mental pressures that come with it,” Viney said.

“So when I made that phone call I was half anticipating he would say, I am not ready, I am still dealing with my own history’.

“But within a split second, and it speaks of the character of the person, he said, ‘I am prepared to step up for my mate and the club’.

“I am so grateful he has done that.”

North Melbourne’s decision means minimal interruption to the coaching department — line coaches John Blakey, Leigh Adams and Jordan Russell will continue their current roles.

But Ratten’s presence also prevents any mood of crisis or a situation spiralling out of control.

It is hard to think of a person more equipped in football to handle this extraordinary situation than Ratten.

Resolute, no-fuss, oozing common sense.

Those close to Ratten say he was floored by his sacking and worried about its impact on his family, with the 51-year-old yet to utter a public word about that decision.

But he was able to put his gut-wrenching sacking by St Kilda into perspective with the challenges that he has endured this past decade.

Brett Ratten chats to Luke McDonald at training. Picture: Mark Stewart

Nothing in football will ever compare to the loss of his son Cooper in 2015 in a car crash.

As AFL Coaches Association chief executive Al Nicholson told the Herald Sun on Thursday:

“I would say with Ratts he is just an incredibly resilient person,” Nicholson said.

“He has obviously had some significant challenges both in person and in coaching and he will give everything he has to the role.

“He had the experience to assist North Melbourne. (Being sacked by St Kilda) has had an impact but he has come through it. So now he is going to step into these shoes when needed.

“He will draw on all of his experiences and resilience to get through it. He will be thinking about the players and doing everything he can to help North Melbourne. He will be very selfless about it.”

The AFLCA continues to lend support where it can to Clarkson and Chris Fagan during the never-ending Hawthorn investigation, which Nicholson said needed to be “expedited” for the sake of all parties.

“Right now it’s about letting (Clarkson) be and spend time with his family. But for everyone involved, not just the coaches, the sooner this is expedited the better. The detail of it I am not across, but everyone involved has been very patient and it is important there is momentum and progression,” Nicholson said.

From Rhyce Shaw’s final game as a senior coach on 17 September 2020, the Roos will have had five separate coaches in 32 months.

Rhyce Shaw’s final game for the Roos in 2020. Picture: Michael Willson/AFL Photos via Getty Images

From David Noble (sacked after round 17 last year), to caretaker Leigh Adams, to Clarkson and now Ratten.

They have lost their No. 1 overall pick in Jason Horne-Francis and won eight total games in that time.

Clarkson’s August decision secured the club a four-week honeymoon period before all hell broke loose.

Since the Hawthorn First Nations allegations broke in grand final week the Roos have not had a single moment of clear air when Clarkson’s concerns or Tarryn Thomas’ latest indiscretion hasn’t been a significant distraction.

Essendon, seemingly the jilted party in Clarkson’s decision, has remarkably flown under the radar as Brad Scott quietly puts the Bombers back on strong foundations.

As club legend David King said on SEN on Thursday about the Clarkson news: “It’s another shaking of the foundations of the North Melbourne footy club”.

But, as King knows, the difference this time around is the people in charge.

Any North Melbourne fan in doubt should watch Todd Viney’s calm, patient explanation of Clarkson’s decision to reassure themselves.

From president Sonja Hood to Viney, to new chief executive Jen Watt to Ratten, these are serious people who will not wilt under pressure.

North Melbourne CEO Jen Watt and president Sonja Hood look on as Todd Viney speaks to the media. Picture: Darrian Traynor/Getty Images

All of us are cynical about how many chances highly talented players like Tarryn Thomas get compared to easily dispensable list-cloggers.

But North Melbourne believe they have weighed the rights of his accusers with their determination to improve him as a person and as he returns to the AFL program have made real ground in that mission.

Now comes the next great challenge as Clarkson steps away for what is likely to be some weeks.

Viney admitted it would be “normal for those players to feel like they have been cursed”, just as the Demons players who endured a hailstorm of controversy this century spoke about the “Norm Smith curse”.

“But you stay the course, you have good leadership, the wheel is going to turn.”