Wow 2 s - not sure if I warranted that, thought my post was reasonable. Ratts has a lot to be grateful for and if he coaches well his contract will take care of itself. And he should ditch his manager. Football managers are a blight on the game and take 5-10% of players / coaches salaries for doing what exactly?

Post is fine Gerry Atric. Its Cazzeman's response to anyone remotely critical of the club.
The problem clubs have with coaches contracts relates to the time frame of the AFL season and the number of staff he has to work with. After the GF you have trade week 7 days later. The coach needs to be signed up well before this and other activities during Oct/Nov.
Thats why Kennett and co signed Clarko.

The fact that Ratten hasnt been offered a contract yet means the board is happy to a degree, but collectively is not convinced yet that Ratten is the longterm answer whilst our window is open for our 17th flag.
No doubt he has improved as a coach and you think he would be safe, but the fact is that if we dont win a flag in the next 3 to 4 years it will be well and truly a long time between drinks.

Perhaps cos most of the criticism has as much grounding in reality as a Barrett story? Just sayin.

Your defense of free speech is admirable though Keogh.

What's to say that the club and Ratten haven't already come to terms, and holding off on an announcement?

In many ways it would make sense to keep it in-house for now.

All will be revealed soon wont it.

Well I'm of the opinion that he should go if we lose tomorrow.

14.5 wins has only meant we gain the same opportunity as Essendon*, Sydney and St Kilda in the finals, in fact if Essendon* wins tomorrow Hird has actually in one season taken his club higher than Ratts even has with less talent at his disposal.

A loss means we have failed 3 years in a row to win a final.

Progress for Ratts to keep his job is win tomorrow and put up a good fight in WA.

If Hird wins it could be argued they have more talent at his disposal.

It would mean our same group of players failed again. Questions will have to be asked if they are infact talented enough to win a final.

If we did lose and they did decide to ship him out you would hope they have a new coach in mind. You would also hope that the list is seriously looked at and those who choke are moved on also.

Isn't losing at the same stage for three years in a row the very definition of stagnation?

He must go if we lose.

The problem is whether there is anyone talented enough to replace him (as bad as that sounds).

To a man, the players have been united and vocal in their support of Ratts.

Well they have a fantastic opportunity tomorrow to show just how much they want Ratts to continue as coach.

Time to take a true stand boys. For yourselves, for your coach, for your club and for your supporters.

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We are on our way back...

I rarely make prognostications before matches as it's too easily undone with a few key injuries etc but I actually think we're going to belt the living suitcase out of them.

Blame me after the game if we lose.

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“When a clown moves into a palace, he doesn't become a king. The palace turns into a circus.”
Turkish Proverb

If only we'd gone a bit harder after Vossy.

I'm yet to hear a player from any team say "Yeah...nah...the coach is a bag of shite and we cant wait to get rid of him"

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Looking forward to seeing our potential realised.

No they just shut up and say nothing.

Get it out if your heads- rats is a good coach he is not a babysitter!

The past few weeks houlihan, Judd, garlett and yarran have come out supporting the coach. Btw great article on garlett today - he is getting married to Lovett-murrays sister and is expecting his first child. The wife wants the kid to play for bombers, he said that ain't going to happen the boy will be a father son to Carlton.

How many coaches have achieved what ratts has? You have to give him credit. He rebuilt yarran , recruited players like ladler and duigan-these are quality people and players. More importantly we have had injuries to our bookends, yet he covered the injuries and kept on winning.

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Alexander the Great was born in Greece!

Plenty considering Ratts hasn't even achieved a finals win .... yet.

Even Teflon and Danny Frawley have prelim finals on there record.

Ratten will be seen as the man who gave the club a transfusion of the Carlton culture - after it had almost bled to death in the seasons that came after 2001.

But as we all know football can be a very harsh and unforgiving business.

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My Blue Heaven

Keep some perspective, it's not only Hird coaching.

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hands up if you're a sycophant!

Will win today Blueman.

If we believe the CFC didn't take the last 2 games against Haw and St.K totally seriously, then I personally will judge Ratten today on 3 fronts...

1. Player Motivation/Mind Set - I know the players should motivate themselves but it's also the role of the coach. Will they be switched on and play with a confidence befitting of the more superior team (which we are)? Or, will they be in their shell, like they were against Hawthorn in the first half? If it is the latter Ratten needs to take some heat.

2. Judd - Hawks and St.K rotated players on him last 2 games and Ess will do the same you'd think. What will Ratten orchestrate to combat this, to relieve his match winner? This is a tactical issue facing Ratten, and one he must win.

3. Rucks - With just one genuine ruck today, I expect Ryder to try to jump over Warnock/Hille at stoppages pushing the ball Ess's way. What will Ratten do to minimise this happening?

There are other tactical issues to be dealt with (such as freeing up space for Garlett/Betts/Walker) etc, but these are the main issues IMO given finals are won at stoppages.

Let's be realistic, Blues have improved this year lagely off the back of reducing scores against, and this has been due to a. a re-vamped backline (largely due to recruitment and re-deploying existing players in different spots - not all Ratten's doing) and b. copying the fwd press used by other clubs (not that hard for a coach to copy is it).

For mine, Ross Lyon and Al Clarkson are the best coaches going around and Ratten needs to show some serious tactical nous to be worthy of keeping his job. Today will be a big test.

Agreed SC. After today's win (just hoping), the newest game plan will be known as Ratten's Rings of Radiation. The game plan will have 10 players form 3 concentric rings of radii 15, 30 and 45m around the opposition. The first ring is the instant radiation zone where the heat is turned on and they are torched to the ground (Robinsion, Ellard and Setanta crunches).

Even if they make it through to the outer ring, they'll still cop some metaphorical sunburn (a soft tackle by Garlett and Betts).

Only one problem with this game plan. By my calculations, id we want three rings with 10 players in each ring, that's 30 players.......Do you think they'd notice if we had 30 players on the ground?????

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If I want your opinion, I'll give it to you!