Newly-appointed assistant coach Brett Ratten is the man charged with transforming St Kilda’s forward-line in 2019, but he’ll also take control of ‘ball movement’.
Speaking on RSN’s Breakfast Club on Monday morning, the premiership-winning player and assistant coach sought to clarify the relatively loose
“(Ball movement) is really about offence,” Ratten said.
“If I don’t get the ball movement right, the forwards might not get a look.
“It’s not the easiest part (of the job) … team defence is a little bit easier when you look at
“But with ball movement, there could be three, four, five different elements to it, and depending on how teams defend you, is how you actually play the game.”
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Ratten believes the Saints have the makings of a strong offence but confirmed the primary function of his role as ball movement coach will be to further refine his side’s attacking prowess.
“There’ll be some challenges there,” he said.
“But I think some of the things they did last year were really good, and there were things that weren’t quite where you want to go.
“We’ll tinker with that a little bit, but it’s really about their offence and their ball movement from the back half to try and connect to their front half.”
The other component to Ratten’s role at the Saints is as specialist coach of the Saints’ forward-line, the stocks of which he says run deeper than most recognise.
“Marshall finished the year really strong, and Membrey had a great second half of the year; he’s got great hands and plays above his height as well; he’s a great mark for his size,” said the ex-Blue.
“And then you’ve got Paddy, you’ve got Josh Battle, and Bruce, who didn’t play much last year with that broken leg.
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“So there is a heap of
Ratten re-joined his old assistant at Carlton, Alan Richardson, in a role reversal at St Kilda in early October.
