Toast Brett Ratten & the selection commitee

[GenevaBlue]

Up at 6:30 a.m. this morning in Geneva to tune into the game via AFL Live.com. What a fantastic performance by the Carlton Football Club.

There have been a few doubters re Ratt's coaching, but today's effort by our boys (including Ratts) surely puts any doubts to rest. I hope Ratts gets signed for three years in the coming weeks.

Also, great selections and match ups today. We've come a long way and now have depth in our squad.

How good is it to be a bluebagger!!! I'M EXCITED!!!!!!

 

[Beloved]

 

[bojangler]

Yep, they've come through with the goods.

Well done especially Ratts.

 

[ESKIE]

Yep so pleased for Brett, loved his presser post match, ...been at this club since I was 14 !!

He has grown as a coach and the players love him, so do I

 

[Tony Lynn 15]

Yes people I do feel that yesterday was the day that the dark cloud disappeared from our club, the dark cloud that has been hanging around for 10 years.

This year has proved that what we considered as our 'best 22' is not necessarily the case and the MC will choose the team based on form rather than names. The fact that guys like Bower and Russell have found it hard to make it back and that most players have had to fight their way back in has been a real plus for this side. We now truly do have depth and many players have surprised.

Considering the pressure that the players and coaching staff were under yesterday their composure and focus was faultless. I have now thought for quite a while that this side has a steely resolve that we have not seen in a Carlton team for a long while.

Well done to all!

 

[40yearBLUE]

The mark of a great leader is their ability to communicate with his or her subordinates in a way that benefits both. This is true in business; it is true in the military and it is true in sport. And a key signpost to this strength is clearly on show when the subordinate seems to be at odds with their leader and then a way is found forward so that both prosper from the success.

It is here that Brett Ratten has clearly stamped his mark. We have clear evidence in 3 individuals (who all give 100% of the credit to Ratts) performances this season. (In fact there are others but these 3 are the standouts for mine). First there was Thornton barely making the grade last season and talk of his imminent departure from Carlton one way or another (trade or delist) only to provide an excellent option as swing man. Now some will say injury lead to him being the last choice we had left. This is patently rubbish. Thornton was selected all year on form and form alone, from 4 early goals v Suns all the way through to yesterdays triumph as clearly the best contested mark on the park. Thornton pays credit to Ratts ability to reshape his career, extend it and rejuvenate it.

We all know that but for negotiating hitches Walker would be playing elsewhere this season. For some coaches, a rift of that magnitude is irreparable. Again Walker gives Ratts the credit for working with him and on his game in order to get the best for both player and club. Some coaches do not have the lack of ego to allow this to happen. For Ratts the club is bigger than any individual including himself. The tweaking of Walker into the midfielder forward he always wanted to be started at the same time another transformation started, in our loss to the Swans this time last year where as part of the Walker into a forward role came the Yarran into a rebounding defender.

Yarran was told in the after match rundown by Ratts that he had a plan for him to switch to half back. Not much more needs to be said about this move. I scoffed at early training reports that we would “waste” such a talent in this way. Only truly visionary coaches can make moves like that look so natural. I have watched players change positions with success many times in the near half decade I have loved the Blues but none has looked so obvious in hindsight than the Yarran move.

There are many others crediting Ratts with their development, some that came to the club only knowing him as coach, others who have had other coaches. All agree Ratts is the man for the job. Perhaps now, we can finally put an end to the Sack Ratts threads for at least 2 and a half more seasons, although I suspect in 2 and a half seasons time, when his 3 year extension is running out, he will be a premiership coach and guiding us toward another grand final and the talk will be another 3 years or will 2 more be enough this time.

 

[HARKER]

The mark of a great leader is his ability to communicate with his or her subordinates in a way that benefits both.

Very well put and very much the case on all points, but you did forget one.

Ratten was also prepared to change his way's and methods where many may not have been able to do so, as ego would not have allowed them.
By his own admission, Ratten was a control freak, yet he was prepared to sit down with others in order to change some of the character flaws he did have in respect to people management and just have a look at how's that gone for him, now

It seems like a long time ago now, but you could smell that something was different as early as when we beat the Swans up in Sydney early in the year.
The smiles, the embracing and the general unity in the group was something I had not seen before.

There is a lot to be said for listening and thank god Ratten had the ability to be able to do so.

 

[Dramoth]

The mark of a great leader is their ability to communicate with his or her subordinates in a way that benefits both. This is true in business; it is true in the military and it is true in sport. And a key signpost to this strength is clearly on show when the subordinate seems to be at odds with their leader and then a way is found forward so that both prosper from the success.

It is here that Brett Ratten has clearly stamped his mark. We have clear evidence in 3 individuals (who all give 100% of the credit to Ratts) performances this season. (In fact there are others but these 3 are the standouts for mine). First there was Thornton barely making the grade last season and talk of his imminent departure from Carlton one way or another (trade or delist) only to provide an excellent option as swing man. Now some will say injury lead to him being the last choice we had left. This is patently rubbish. Thornton was selected all year on form and form alone, from 4 early goals v Suns all the way through to yesterdays triumph as clearly the best contested mark on the park. Thornton pays credit to Ratts ability to reshape his career, extend it and rejuvenate it.

We all know that but for negotiating hitches Walker would be playing elsewhere this season. For some coaches, a rift of that magnitude is irreparable. Again Walker gives Ratts the credit for working with him and on his game in order to get the best for both player and club. Some coaches do not have the lack of ego to allow this to happen. For Ratts the club is bigger than any individual including himself. The tweaking of Walker into the midfielder forward he always wanted to be started at the same time another transformation started, in our loss to the Swans this time last year where as part of the Walker into a forward role came the Yarran into a rebounding defender.

Yarran was told in the after match rundown by Ratts that he had a plan for him to switch to half back. Not much more needs to be said about this move. I scoffed at early training reports that we would “waste” such a talent in this way. Only truly visionary coaches can make moves like that look so natural. I have watched players change positions with success many times in the near half decade I have loved the Blues but none has looked so obvious in hindsight than the Yarran move.

There are many others crediting Ratts with their development, some that came to the club only knowing him as coach, others who have had other coaches. All agree Ratts is the man for the job. Perhaps now, we can finally put an end to the Sack Ratts threads for at least 2 and a half more seasons, although I suspect in 2 and a half seasons time, when his 3 year extension is running out, he will be a premiership coach and guiding us toward another grand final and the talk will be another 3 years or will 2 more be enough this time.

Well said... the biggest thing is that a number of players, who have had disputes with Ratts last year, are now crediting him with the resurrection of their careers at Carlton.

I thought a few of our guys were gone last year... we we managed to retain them and by Christ I want to still see them wearing navy blue when we hold up #17 in the next couple of years

 

[gbatman]

Ratten is the man for the job, there is no doubting that, the guy has improved as a coach, grown with the players and done a lot of good things. There was a big clean out of assistant coaches at the start of the year and we got some big names like Brown and Richardson who are just as important.