‘Disappointing': St Kilda coach Brett Ratten laments loss to Geelong but looks to bright future

The Saints will be left to wonder what could have been after throwing away a huge lead against Geelong and surrendering their finals hopes.

St Kilda is looking ahead to the 2022 season. (Photo by Robert Cianflone/Getty Images)

As St Kilda’s 2021 campaign all but ended at GMHBA Stadium on Saturday, you could excuse coach Brett Ratten for a sullen outlook on a match – and season – that promised so much.

But while he was at a loss to explain the Saints’ ill discipline and sudden inability to win contested possessions as the Cats pulled off a 45-point turnaround for a 14-point win, he was equally buoyant about their future.

“I’m pretty flat. The thing you take out of it was that our effort and endeavour were pretty good,” Ratten said.

“But you don’t lose contested ball by (36) … you could have moments and lose a contest here and there, but we just lost contest after contest … some of that was being second to the ball and giving away free kicks.

“But the second quarter they just dominated stoppages and field position and made it tough for us to get out and they changed the game.”

Ratten has coached the Saints since 2019. (Photo by Dylan Burns/AFL Photos via Getty Images)

Ratten was full of praise for spearhead Max King, who had his finger prints on five of the first scoring plays of the game as the Saints rolled to a 31-point lead.

“It was pretty disappointing. We had a chance and started well, but with Max reinjuring that adductor, we just lost a bit of momentum and a focal point that was on fire,” said Ratten, who said his young full-forward was a beacon for Saints’ fans into the future.

“He was marking the ball at the highest point, converting, playing some fantastic footy.

“It was pretty encouraging, not just from (a) St Kilda (perspective), but any young forward in the competition.

“We have witnessed at the footy club for a while Max going about his craft and some of his training performances are like, ‘Wow!’.

“So we know he’s got talent, but to see it first hand against teams, he’ll get some real confidence going into next year.

“He’s been against Harris Andews, (Jeremy) McGovern and he’s played on All-Australian players and done exceptionally well.

“It’s a snapshot for Max (into the future), but the biggest thing is how (we) complement him with players around him.”

As they watch the finals from the sidelines, the Saints will rue previous losses to Carlton and Adelaide, both of whom sit below them on the AFL ladder. (Photo by Robert Cianflone/Getty Images)

Ratten said King’s injury was not worse than he’d done previously in a long campaign, but said he’d probably go into cotton wool with the Saints only a mathematical chance of making the final eight.

“He has tweaked it again (and) it points to him not playing next week.”

Ratten said his squad had recovered well from the low point of its season, a shock loss to cellar dweller Adelaide in Cairns in Round 13.

“We’ve made some inroads. When you think about the Adelaide game and where we were, we were low on confidence and really people were doubting themselves a bit,” he said.

“We weren’t superb, but we played some pretty good footy in the second half of the year.

“The development of our younger players — King, but also (Tom) Highmore, (Ryan) Burns and (Leo) Connolly got exposure as well.

“From an inside 50 point of view, we’ve denied the opposition a bit, which is pleasing, but we’ve got a lot of work to do in the off-season.”