Brett Ratten tells St Kilda fans he’s sick of wasted opportunities

Brett Ratten admits he’s fed up with the Saints’ sloppy skills — and players will be ‘moved out’ if they can’t kick the footy. Who should be worried?

Hunter Clark of St Kilda runs the ball during the round 23 AFL match between the Sydney Swans and the St Kilda Saints.

Caretaker St Kilda coach Brett Ratten has slammed his side’s skill level and put continued inability to hit targets on the table as the Saints assess their list.

Not for the first time this year St Kilda failed in front of goal, kicking 5.9 to halftime against Sydney and finishing with 8.16 to the Swans’ 17.7.

In a video to Saints members, Ratten, tipped to get the head coach role full-time, didn’t mince his words. “Honestly, I’ve only had the job for six weeks, but I’m actually getting a bit sick of talking about the missed opportunities,” Ratten said.

“Really, we had our chances.

“You’re 5.9 at halftime we could have been two to four goals up and we squandered that opportunity again.”

TRADE HQ: SAINTS LEAD RACE FOR DOCKERS SPEEDSTER

MATCH: REMARKABLE STORY BEHIND MAGIC MOMENT

SHOCK: BUDDY SURGERY AFTER MILESTONE HEROICS

Ratten has finished 3-3 from his six games in charge and is considered the favourite to be appointed the full-time coach.

If he is given the job, he last night left no doubt as to what his priority would be.

“Overall, I thought our skill level was poor and that’s something we’ve got to address over summer,” Ratten said.

“We’ve got to train it harder, we’ve actually got to move players out who can’t execute and bring players in who can.

“That’s something we’ll focus on.”

***Live stream the 2019 Toyota AFL Premiership Season on KAYO SPORTS. Every match of every round. Live & anytime on your TV or favourite device. Get your 14 day free trial >

Jack Billings in action against Sydney.

Blake Acres had three kicks against the Swans and hit the target with one of them, Jack Newnes hit two targets from five attempts while Jack Steele, Jack Lonie, Luke Dunstan and Dan Hannebery all kicked at 50 per cent efficiency or worse.

Over the season Lonie, Hunter Clark, Jarryn Geary, Ben Paton and Dalton Langlands are all rated as “below average” kicks by Champion Data. The Saints’ best kicks are key-position players Josh Battle, Nathan Brown and Billy Longer, while Acres, Steele, Seb Ross, Nick Hind and Shane Savage are rated above average.

“We’ve had a really mixed year with performance, but we still won nine games of football.

“2019 is finished, we didn’t make finals, but that’s our goal in 2020 — to move up the ladder and do it as quickly as we can,” Ratten said.

SUBSCRIBE TO THE SACKED PODCAST HERE