AFL 2022: St Kilda coach Brett Ratten declares ladder-leading Geelong can be beaten

Half the battle in the AFL is mental and St Kilda coach Brett Ratten is playing psychological games ahead of a showdown against Geelong.

St Kilda coach Brett Ratten is channelling his inner Leigh Matthews. Picture: Darrian Traynor/Getty Images

St Kilda coach Brett Ratten has channelled his inner Leigh Matthews by boldly declaring that Geelong “can‘t win forever”.

The Saints face the toughest challenge in AFL this week when they venture down to Kardinia Park to tackle the top-of-the-ladder Cats.

Geelong head into the game riding a 10-game winning streak and have been installed as premiership favourites by bookmakers.

Matthews’ Brisbane Lions faced a similarly daunting task in 2001 against the all-conquering Bombers who had won 32 of their previous 34 games.

It prompted the master coach to quote Arnold Schwarzenegger from the legendary action movie Predator: “If it bleeds we can kill it. And we reckon Essendon can bleed.”

Matthews got the desired effect, as Brisbane not only toppled the Bombers by 28 points but sparked their own monstrous winning streak that was eventually broken after 20 games the following season.

And while the odds of the Saints matching Brisbane’s feats of winning the next three premierships are slim, Ratten will hope at least that his words will inspire an upset win this weekend.

“They‘re well-drilled, well-rehearsed, playing good footy,” Ratten said of Geelong at Moorabbin on Wednesday.

“But like anything, you can’t win forever.”

Dan Hannebery’s future is uncertain. Picture: Darrian Traynor/Getty Images

However, Ratten admitted that he would have his hands full trying to stop Jeremy Cameron and Tom Hawkins up forward, Patrick Dangerfield in the midfield, and Tom Stewart and Sam De Koning down back.

St Kilda trained with thinner boundary lines on Wednesday in a bid to get used to Kardinia Park‘s skinnier ground dimensions.

But their ability to curtail the influence of Cameron and Hawkins will be boosted by the return of key defender Dougal Howard, who has missed the last four games due to a knee injury.

“He‘s our vice-captain, he’ll be extremely important. His presence down there gives us confidence as a team,” Ratten said.

“The support for (Callum) Wilkie and (Josh) Battle and co. really helps our system and communication down there. He‘s an integral part of that.”

Zak Jones is “close” to earning a recall too after being dropped for the past two games.

There are plenty of dangerous Geelong midfielders to choose from to potentially apply a tag to, with the likes of Dangerfield, Cam Guthrie, Joel Selwood and Mitch Duncan all capable of tearing a game open.

Saints youngster Marcus Windhager has done a few impressive negating roles this year, but Ratten wasn’t sure if he would be used in that fashion against the Cats.

Geelong have won 10 in a row in 2022. Picture: Quinn Rooney/Getty Images

Injury-plagued veteran Dan Hannebery pulled up well from his comeback game against Hawthorn last week and is expected to face Geelong as well, but a decision on whether he will get a new contract with the Saints for next year might not be made until after the season.

As for the Saints’ pursuit of Jordan De Goey, it was revealed earlier this week that the board had asked the football department for more information about the Collingwood free agent.

But Ratten denied that was a sign that the club had cooled on their pursuit of De Goey, saying it was perfectly normal for the board to ask questions about the star Magpie before potentially recruiting him.

“It doesn‘t matter if we’re employing new staff members or players, we have to run things past the board and they have the right to challenge and ask questions and see where we’re at with it,” Ratten said.

“He’s very talented but we’re still working through that.”

Meanwhile, veteran ruckman Paddy Ryder (calf) could play finals if St Kilda qualify, while Jack Billings (back) could be back in action next week.

Originally published as AFL 2022: St Kilda coach Brett Ratten declares ladder-leading Geelong can be beaten