Brett Ratten - Coaching Career

Coaching Career

After retirement from playing, Ratten spent two years as an assistant coach at the Melbourne Demons, before leaving to take a head coaching role at the Norwood Football Club in the Eastern Football League's Second Division. He coached there for two seasons.

Ratten returned to Carlton as an assistant coach for the 2007 season. On 24 July 2007, senior coach Denis Pagan was sacked, and Ratten was appointed as caretaker coach for the remainder of the season. On 20 August 2007 he signed a contract as Carlton senior coach until the end of 2009.

Under Ratten's coaching, Carlton returned to the finals after a long period of poor performances under Pagan. Carlton reached the finals in 2009, Ratten's second season, finishing seventh and ending a seven year finals drought, the longest in club history. His contract was extended until the end of 2011.

Late in the 2010 season, Ratten came under scrutiny as a coach when Carlton suffered several big losses, but the club nevertheless reached the finals again, finishing eighth. Ratten began coaching from the boundary line rather than the coaches' box during the season. In 2011, Ratten took the team to fifth, and to an elimination final victory against Essendon, the club's first finals win for ten years. There had been speculation that renewal of Ratten's contract beyond 2011 was contingent on the club winning a final, and his contract was extended to the end of 2013 after the season.

Carlton's on-field performance in 2012 was inconsistent, and the club missed the finals after setting pre-season expectations of a top four finish, and there was constant speculation during the year that Ratten would be sacked as a result. After the second-last round of the season, in which Carlton suffered an upset loss against Gold Coast and was mathematically eliminated from finals contention, the club confirmed that Ratten's contract would be terminated at the end of 2012, one year early. Including his six games as caretaker coach, Ratten coached 120 games for Carlton, recording 60 wins and a draw. He was the third person to both play and coach 100 senior games for the Carlton Football Club, after Ken Hands and Norm Clark.

On 5 October 2012, Ratten accepted an Assistant Coaching position at the Hawthorn Football Club. He will commence duties in November.