Inside the moment Saints skipper Jack Steele learnt Brett Ratten’s time was up

The Saints star opens up about learning his football life was turned upside down, while on holiday in San Diego.

Saints skipper Jack Steele with coach Brett Ratten at training. (AAP Image/Michael Dodge)

Jack Steele was in San Diego when his coach’s name popped up on his phone.

He was in the States with good mate Rowan Marshall and former teammate Luke Dunstan for a couple of weeks of R&R when Brett Ratten called.

While the captain and coach regularly spoke, he was puzzled by the timing of the call. That sense of strangeness increased ten-fold about 10 seconds into the conversation.

Ratten informed Steele that he was about to be sacked.

“It was crazy,” Steele says. “It was something I didn’t see coming and a lot of people wouldn’t have seen it coming.

“It definitely stressed me out and definitely stressed a lot of players out at the time. I was a bit off-side with what happened, then a couple of weeks later Ross (Lyon) got appointed and I was still overseas.”

After the shock sacking St Kilda CEO Simon Lethlean and president Andrew Bassat reached out to Steele who was still hurting by a turn of events which he couldn’t shake a sense of blame about.

“To some degree the playing group would definitely feel (they let Ratten down). I suppose the back half of the year we really didn’t help him out at all which is disappointing because I still believe he was a great coach and the players loved him as much as they possibly could,” Steele said.

Steele said the playing group felt some responsibility for Ratten’s sacking in October. (Photo by Graham Denholm/Getty Images)

“Obviously Simon, Andrew and the rest of the board saw something different and thought that Ross might be a better fit for our group.

“It was hard not being at the club and seeing it all happen.”

Steele had already done plenty of thinking about what went wrong in the second half of the season, which saw the Saints plummet from fourth to 10th on the ladder, winning just three of their last 11 games.

“We were probably a little bit too reactive,” he said. “Our reviews would be pretty heavy if we lost a game and I feel like that would just carry onto the next game at times.

“It is a bad position to be in, especially when we were 8-3 at the bye and we knew we only needed to win a handful more games to solidify our spot in the finals.

“We couldn’t really do that, the players were down on confidence, players were down on form, we had a few injuries, it was almost like the perfect storm.

“Carlton were in the same position, they were probably in a better position and then did the same as us. It is a lot harder than you think when you’re in that spot.

“At the start of the year we weren’t expected to make finals so I don’t think we exceeded expectations all year but we should have really capitalised on where we were.”

Steele, who took over as the club’s sole captain in 2022, has spoken to Lyon a number of times with the pair catching up last week for a one-on-one bonding session.

“We just talked about footy, the game plan and how we want to move the ball this year plus the changes he’ll make around the club,” he said.

“A lot of it was just about life and where I am from, where he is from, just getting to know each other a bit and building that connection.

“He certainly thinks differently and I think he will get the most out of some players on our list that maybe haven’t done much in the last couple of years.

“He just wants people to work hard, he’s big on that as everyone would know. Our group can do that but it is going to be interesting with a new game plan, we’re going to have to do a lot of education and try to gel together as a group and with the coaches during the pre-season.

“I have already spoken to a few players who might have been on the outer last year but they are feeling really refreshed about the changes and it is a fresh start for them so I think Ross is coming in with a mindset that no-one is bigger than anyone else, everyone is on a level playing field.

Ross Lyon was re-appointed as the Saints coach, 11 years after leaving the club for Fremantle. (Photo by Quinn Rooney/Getty Images)

“It is going to be a bit of a test in pre-season to see how everyone goes.”

He said the players will get a shock when they arrive at Moorabbin to begin pre-season training with the first to fourth year players starting back on Monday.

“The whole downstairs strength and conditioning has also been changed as well,” Steele said.

“You walk into the club and there are 10 new faces that you need to remember the names of.

“It is going to feel like a new club but it’s going to be a good change for us. You need to embrace the change and have a positive mindset about it otherwise it won’t be good for you.”

Lyon is bringing the old St Kilda back with the return of former stars Robert Harvey, Lenny Hayes and Brendon Goddard onto a new coaching panel.

“It probably puts us in a better position because the people that are coming back are even hungrier, especially Ross who went to Freo and played in a grand final over there,” Steele said.

“He has tasted it, he‘s pretty hungry just to get it done and it puts us in a good position. We need to jump on the back of him and get to work.”

For Steele the appointment of Hayes is special given the pair worked together at the GWS Giants where he played 17 games in two seasons before being traded to the Saints in 2017.

“It’s massively exciting as I worked with Lenny once before at the Giants for a year,” he said.

“I think he was the defensive coach but he was my duty of care coach I suppose, a mentor of mine.

“I was speaking to him when I was getting the trade to the Saints, he knew I was leaving and was consulting him about it and trying to get him to give me an answer.

“Maybe that was all part of the plan, you go ahead and I‘ll be there in a couple of years.”

Steele, 26, isn’t required back until next month but will be on the track on Monday for Lyon’s first official training session.

Club legend Lenny Hayes returns to the Saints as an assistant coach under Ross Lyon. Hayes worked closesly with Steele whilst both were at GWS. (Photo: Michael Dodge)

He will also be on the promotion trail for McDonald’s where he is a Kick-2-Kick ambassador. With McHappy Day happening on Saturday, Steele is helping to raise funds for Ronald McDonald House through the sale of Silly Socks which are available for $5 in all outlets with the money going towards helping sick children and their families.

When the entire playing group does return to pre-season training on December 5, the captain knows there is an excellent precedent for the Saints to follow.

What Collingwood under new coach Craig McRae did is the road map for every other middle-of-the-road team who have some talent – Steele points to Max King, Marcus Windhager and Mitch Owens as special kids – but have found ways to stuff it up regularly.

“It just shows what can happen,” Steele says.

“We played them in Round 1 last season and on paper I thought we had a way better 22 than them but they were just such a good team and played as one.

“They played as a collective unit, that was so good to see and it gave us a bit of belief that we can get there as well, we can make that leap, make that jump but it takes complete buy-in from everyone on your list as well.

“It shows clubs like us who are hovering outside the eight that can‘t quite break into it that it is possible to do if you get a few things right. All it takes is a couple of good games in a row, you can build on a run with a new system, build on that belief and connection between your teammates like Collingwood did and even Fremantle, they were great as well.

“It is really possible.”