Brett Ratten

Playing career

Originally from Yarra Glen, Ratten made his debut for Carlton in the fifteenth round of the 1990 season.

In a career lasting 14 years, Ratten played mainly as an in-and-under midfielder. His unobtrusive style often escaped the attention of media and umpires early in his career. Famously, he won Carlton's best and fairest award in the record-breaking premiership season of 1995, including a game in round 17 against Fitzroy when he amassed 44 disposals, but failed to poll a single Brownlow vote from the umpires for the entire season. In the 1999 season, Ratten was credited with 265 clearances, which (as of 2013) remains the highest on record by a considerable margin – the next-highest is only 190.

Ratten won the Robert Reynolds Trophy (Carlton best and fairest) on three occasions: 1995, 1997, and in a tie with Scott Camporeale in 2000. Ratten was a part of Carlton's premiership team in 1995. He played for Victoria in the State of Origin in 1996 and 1997. He was awarded All-Australian selection in 1997, 2000 and 2001, firmly cementing his skill in the centre. Ratten was inducted into the Carlton Hall of Fame in 1999. In 2009, statistical analysis company Champion Data announced that Ratten averaged 126.1 ranking points per game during the 2000–2009 decade, the highest of any player in the league.

Ratten's career was plagued by injury. During his time in football, he had eight arthroscopes on his right knee, three arthroscopes on his left knee and a medial ligament. His shoulder was also badly damaged in 2003, which ultimately led to Ratten announcing his retirement in the middle of the 2003 season.

After the retirement of Craig Bradley, Ratten was awarded the club's captaincy in 2002, a position he held until his own retirement. After Ratten's retirement in the middle of the 2003 season, the captaincy was passed to Andrew McKay for the rest of the 2003 season.

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 over 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 commenced his duties in November 2012 and subsequently was part of the club's 2013, 2014 & 2015 premiership coaching panel.

Personal life

Ratten's 16 year old son Cooper was killed in a car crash on 16 August 2015.

* = Caretaker coach