St Kilda has been roundly panned for its shock sacking of head coach Brett Ratten just 97 days after handing him a two-year extension.
Ratten, who led the Saints to a surprise finals appearance in 2020, was given his marching orders after his team lost eight out of its last 11 games.
The 51-year-old is understood to have been blindsided by the decision after meeting with St Kilda president Andrew Bassat earlier on Thursday. He was sacked hours later.
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Kangaroos premiership great David King described as “laughable” the decision to sack Ratten, who he called a “great football person”, suggesting that more heads should roll in the wake of the axing.
“He’s exactly what you want at your football club,” King told SEN.
“All these decisions are decisions you make in the cool light of day. They’re made by a collective of people. If those guys, who have allowed St Kilda to have a 10-win, 11-win ceiling every year and (to) really not contend with the big boys and not give the coach the best opportunity, if they’ve got a shred of decency they walk today with Brett Ratten.
“They say ‘you know what, part of the failings of this football club are in my department, I’m accountable for this’.
“I don’t care if that’s (Saints CEO) Simon Lethlean or (Saints list manager) James Gallagher or who it is because this is not a one-man problem. It’s not. You can’t blame Ratten for all of this – having signed him 100 days ago.”
King, who was especially critical of the Saints’ quiet trade period, said Ratten had been fighting an uphill battle throughout his tenure due to ill-equipped playing lists.
“For 66 games Brett Ratten has been taking a knife to a gun fight. There’s no doubt about that,” he said.
“He’s been asked to win games and ultimately finals with a star-barren list. If you judged the playing roster for mediocrity, they’d win a gold medal every year.”
Port Adelaide champion Kane Cornes was also left staggered by the ruthless sacking.
“It’s one of the most brutal decisions I’ve seen and maybe it’s an insight into the changing landscape of how AFL football is going and how ruthless some of these clubs are going to be,” Cornes said.
“We see this in world sports from time to time … largely there’s been a level of loyalty with AFL coaches. This is a coach that was re-signed halfway through the year and now he’s gone the day after the trade period.”
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