Mega Thread Brett Ratten

[Setanta The Irish]

I think its just a percieved boys club.

I'm actually pretty confident Sticks would sack Ratten if and when the time comes.

Personally I think the time is at the end of the year, but who know..

 

[Big Red is back]

Of course you review it. .. Don't you think they are reviewing things right now? What you don't do, is have a knee jerk reaction and sack the manager mid sale as that could be the wrong decision. ..

Nor do you blindly hang on


Ok just tweeted 3aw they are about to anaylse ratts.

 

[mediumsizered]

I think its just a percieved boys club.

I'm actually pretty confident Sticks would sack Ratten if and when the time comes.

Personally I think the time is at the end of the year, but who know..

I have no doubt if it is required (& at this stage I am not convinced it is), Sticks would make the hard call.

You don't get to where Sticks has without having 'Balls'. Surely Dick Pratt wouldn't have anointed Sticks if he didn't think he was able to make the tough calls. I think many Carlton supporters under-rate Sticks just because he doesn't make as much noise as McGuire or a Kennett.

 

[Krooooze]

A guy made a good point on 3aw that called in, like myself he was disappointed with how positive Rats was after the loss on Friday night. He used quotes like "a step in the right direction" and "it was very pleasing". He basically said he used quotes that you would hear from a coach of a bottom 4 team. I think he needs to be more realistic and say this is a game we threw away because of bad kicking. We won all the key stats but our kicking for goal was absolutely pathetic and cost us a game we should have won.

 

[Big Red is back]

Ok 3aw noted.

Three rucks is a disaster makes us to slow
Why start betts on bench in 2nd term after being on fire
Yarra why the sub

 

[1981]

I have no doubt if it is required (& at this stage I am not convinced it is), Sticks would make the hard call.

You don't get to where Sticks has without having 'Balls'. Surely Dick Pratt wouldn't have anointed Sticks if he didn't think he was able to make the tough calls. I think many Carlton supporters under-rate Sticks just because he doesn't make as much noise as McGuire or a Kennett.

Fair enough but can you give me one ballsy decision Sticks has made apart from Fev which was a no brainer and if anything should have been done a lot earlier

 

[mediumsizered]

Fair enough but can you give me one ballsy decision Sticks has made apart from Fev which was a no brainer and if anything should have been done a lot earlier

Given Sticks has been on the board since the late '90s, I think you will find he has been involved in much of the decision making since that time, including being involved in getting Dick Pratt back to the club. Just because he doesn't have a high profile doesn't mean he is not doing anything bold. Not all club presidents have media gigs to constantly talk themselves or the club up.

 

[Setanta The Irish]

theres so much evidence pilling up that Ratten is not the man for the job.

I dont really care that we have improved every year since hes come to the club....the list could have done that on their own with my grandma coaching them.

Every week I find myself thinking "jeez, whats that all about?" "why the hell did he/didnt he do that?!?!" "I hope he tries this at least once.."

And I totally agree with the 3aw caller. I told my old man on Thursday "we are going to player better but still lose, and Ratten is going to say its a step in the right direction" those were my exact words.
He is predictably soft.
He should have been furious that we threw away a game that was ours to win.

 

[mediumsizered]

theres so much evidence pilling up that Ratten is not the man for the job.

Just because you & a handful of other negative nellies think this, does not equal "evidence piling up."

 

[KnobHead]

theres so much evidence pilling up that Ratten is not the man for the job.

I dont really care that we have improved every year since hes come to the club....the list could have done that on their own with my grandma coaching them.

So when we win it's because of the players, and when we lose it's because of Ratten ... ?

 

[Big Red is back]

By my count we are only missing five of our best 22 plenty clubs missing that many.

Stop the excuses and start winning.

 

[mediumsizered]

So when we win it's because of the players, and when we lose it's because of Ratten ... ?

That is how it seems to work. Ratts is in a no win position with some.

 

[Big Red is back]

So when we win it's because of the players, and when we lose it's because of Ratten ... ?

Unfortunately if you understood football you could see that we have no structure and as such rely on our guns much more than other top sides, gws have better structure.

Anything we achieve is a credit to the players as our coach is as bad as I have seen in afl football.

 

[Claypigeon]

By my count we are only missing five of our best 22 plenty clubs missing that many.

Stop the excuses and start winning.

Pretty narrow view when you discount the injuries to depth on top of the injuries to First 22. ..

 

[goreds]

The wheel has turned back in favor of Ratten because the game has evolved yet again in the last 7 days...

For those that have been paying attention to the umpiring, the amount of quick holding the ball decisions and quicker balling up around the ground, has created space and less numbers around the ball...

What does this mean for Ratts?? His game plan has come back into focus... Run and Gun with highly skilled and super quick players...

Who do we have to thank for this???? Kevin Bartlett....!

He is like a dog with a bone and we all have to back him on this...

 

[Blue since 72]

Unfortunately if you understood football you could see that we have no structure and as such rely on our guns much more than other top sides, gws have better structure.

Anything we achieve is a credit to the players as our coach is as bad as I have seen in afl football.

We rely on a play on style of football because we have alot of runners and would be one of the fastest teams in the comp. Ratten has implemented a game plan to suit.

Malthouse admitted the same when coaching Collingwood several years ago. He molded a plan to the players he had rather than the other way around.

Ratts may not be to everyone's liking and is certainly not perfect (some positional changes I haven't agreed with and his reluctance to act sooner in a game at times) but that's fine, who is.

But a combination of injuries to important play makers and a dip in the requirement to 'crack in' as they say nowadays have been the may reasons for our losses. Anyone who has played a decent level of competitive team sport will know the knock to confidence good players being out of the side can have.

Ratten may go at the end of the seaon if we don't make the 8 but it will only be because it is expedient, cheaper and, not unlike Rendell's sacking at the Crow's, to satisfy the public's perception.

 

[The Coach]

I was responding to reviewing things immediately rather than waiting until the end of the year, re-read the post I quoted. ..

I trust that the powers that be are continually reviewing performance week by week and always looking at options and if they felt a quick decision was needed (I am thinking more of straight after the season finishes here) then they are in a position to do so

I'm just concerned sacking Ratts might have a detrimental effect on the playing group. The fragility of job security might just have them questioning their own vulnerabilities. Just a theory.

Hmm. May also serve as a motivational rocket

It's back I tells ya. So much unnecessary heaving of bosoms.

You keep your nose out of the heaving bosoms the mods will act if the heaving needs to stop

 

[thylacine60]

I can't work like this...

 

[Malifice]

Unfortunately if you understood football you could see that we have no structure and as such rely on our guns much more than other top sides, gws have better structure.

Utter utter utter utter bullshit.

Anything we achieve is a credit to the players as our coach is as bad as I have seen in afl football.

So when we win, its the players that get us over the line (despite Ratten), and when we lose its all Rattens fault.

Its basically impossible for him to win in this situation you realise?

 

[Krooooze]

I must admit with the way Rats was cheering on after every goal and putting his head in his hands after poor plays, it smacked of a bit of desperation. He obviously knows he's under huge pressure and his job is on the line. Even in the presser afterwards where he was very praising of our performance worried me a bit. Whilst it was an improvement on what we had served up in recent weeks I thought he prob dragged on a bit in praising the group. It wasn't exactly a performancehe should hang his hat on.

It was a game that we should have won and weren't good enough to take our chances.

 

[mightymightyblues]

Everyone in the Carlton fraternity love Ratts and always will. You can tell in footy who are genuinely good people and Ratts is one of them.
However this might be his downfall - that he is a bit too soft. Contrary, Malthouse was viewed as a prick and look what he achieved. Maybe the playing group doesn't have the utmost respect for Ratts. Just food for thought.

However, unless any of us deal with Ratten on a day to day basis at the club, no one is in any position to say he should be immediately sacked. I have huge faith in Sticks that he will pull the plug on Ratts if/when his time is up.

What needs to be addressed by the CFC board is simple. Is there a better coach available?

 

[The Old Dark Navy's]

Nothing wrong with Ratts saying it was a stepping stone and a better effort. Too many people looking for self gratification based on where they thought we should be, not where we got to.

I saw a team down on confidence, waiting for others to do the hard yards, after dropping their heads because of injuries to key players, playing 80% football hoping it was enough to get the job done. Against the Cats, they came out and gave it a red hot go. Instead of complaining about us being soft and not working hard enough, we are lamenting skill errors, especially kicking for goal.

If you can't see that is an improvement, then there is no helping you. The test is whether we have picked the intensity back up again and whether it is sustainable. People see another loss and 4 points down the drain, I saw a team that would have got smashed by 15 goals if they came out with the intensity of previous weeks.

Hopefully intensity restored, a little bit of confidence in their ability to lead without Murph and with Judd down (and I believe the Selwoods will probably smash him again this week), and the skills will come together. As I keep saying, it's mostly between the ears with these guys, and that is the hardest area for a coach to work on sometimes.

Playing devil's advocate, Ratts may very well be in trouble and he may not be the right guy to coach the team, but some of the padding out of the reasons why are disrespectful, and frankly some people just have the scent of blood in their nostrils.

When I see some posters who tend to question every single thing the club does, you have to wonder if they are being realistic.

If the players go out this weekend and play without intensity, do we blame Ratts for somehow turning off the intensity switch during the week, failing to see the sudden change in the players heads in 6 days and address it, or do we think that we have players that are not hungry enough? They can do it, they have shown it. Beats me why they don't do it every week.

 

[BLUEALLTHRU]

Unfortunately if you understood football you could see that we have no structure and as such rely on our guns much more than other top sides, gws have better structure.

Anything we achieve is a credit to the players as our coach is as bad as I have seen in afl football.

Just been viewing a few of your posts and whilst I can see you are a passionate Carlton supporter I believe you would be better suited barracking for the Tigers who have a reputation for eating their own young.Stop with the negativity and back our boys to get over this slump and when we make the 8 this year applaud the players and coach who will be very damaging in September.

 

[40yearBLUE]

I am one of the posters who's expectation and reality took diametrically opposed paths in round 4. I mistakenly thought there was a mental resolve around the club that would see lesser opponents dispatched with ruthless efficiency in a similar vein to the efforts of the previous weekend. It proved to be the highpoint of the season and the slide has been painfully evident since.

Pop psychology is not a favorite subject of mine, but in such an even competition, it must be acknowledged that mental toughness or fragility will often decide matches. How else can we make sense of some of the results of the past few weeks. The Hawks after the Sydney game were being touted as not likely to make the 8. We were a monty to finish top 2 with WC. Speaking of WC, they lost to a side we beat by 15 goals. The Pies looked done for the year after round 3 and now sit on top, albeit until the byes sort themselves out, but if we beat WC this week then they could fall as far as 5th and we would be 2 games off second with 11 to play.

It is clear that some of us (me most vocal amongst them) based a lot on the form of the first 3 games. Perhaps our wish to be a power again carried some of us ahead of ourselves. For us to carry on the form of the first 3 rounds we needed luck with injuries and we needed the mindset of the playing group to stay focussed on what is required to continue that form. Too many of them have not and as a result we have lost games we not only should have won, but gone into other games thinking we would win with less than full effort. I can understand the idea of resting players when playing the expansion teams or bottom clubs, but that ought to have been shelved as an idea when we lost to Essendon. We simply could not afford the negative messages such a move made. But we can only see that now in retrospect. At the time it seemed the right move. But even the most loyal of people can recognise a mistake and call it for what it is in hindsight, whilst being mindful that mistakes are impossible to avoid. If you are making decisions you are making mistakes, I dont care who you are or what you are doing, only people not doing anything are devoid of mistakes.

What is also clear is that another group of "supporters" are basing their negative attitudes on a similarly small sample of games and no amount of logic or fact will shift their views. Some are not true supporters, just barrackers regardless of if they have paid for a membership or not. Others have valid views and come from a good place, its pretty clear which are which.

I have no doubt that in 6 or 8 more weeks the landscape will have changed again. If losing a third of your list to injury is a given, then perhaps we are lucky to have had our share of the luck occur in the first half of the season. Lets just see where this group can take it for the next 8 weeks, and where our lead up to finals finds us. I have a feeling we will be right there amongst it just as the club has set our goal on.

 

[Blue since 72]

I am one of the posters who's expectation and reality took diametrically opposed paths in round 4. I mistakenly thought there was a mental resolve around the club that would see lesser opponents dispatched with ruthless efficiency in a similar vein to the efforts of the previous weekend. It proved to be the highpoint of the season and the slide has been painfully evident since.

I have to say that this has been the single biggest disappointment for me this year. The talent is there and the final piece for the team to achieve was the mental resolve.

While the Bombers game was disappointing, by far the worst game this year for me was the Saints game.