Brett Ratten

Infobox afl player | firstname = Brett
lastname = Ratten




birthdate = Birth date and age|1971|7|11|df=y
birthplace =
heightweight = 184cm, 88kg
originalteam = Yarra Glen
dead = alive
deathdate =
deathplace =
debutdate = Round 15, 1990
debutteam = Carlton
debutopponent = Collingwood Magpies
debutstadium = Waverley Park
playingteams =

Carlton (1990-2003)

261 games, 133 goals
coach =
coachingteams = Carlton (Rnd 17, 2007-)
* 28 games; 10 wins, 18 losses
statsend = 2008
careerhighlights =

* Carlton Best and Fairest: 1995,1997,2000(tie)
* Carlton Captain: 2002-2003
* Carlton Hall of Fame: inducted 1999
* Carlton Premiership Player: 1995
* All-Australian: 1997,2000,2001
* State of Origin: 1996-1997

Brett "Ratts" Ratten (born 11 July 1971) is a former Australian rules footballer and the current coach of the Carlton Football Club in the Australian Football League.

Ratten made his debut for Carlton in the fifteenth round of the 1990 season.

In a career lasting 14 years, he amassed many awards of recognition to his name. He played mainly as an in-and-under midfielder, often escaping the attention of media and umpires. Somewhat infamously, he amassed 44 disposals in Round 17, 1995, against Fitzroy, but failed to poll a Brownlow vote from the umpires.

He was awarded the Robert Reynolds Trophy (Carlton Best and Fairest) in the club's premiership year of 1995 (despite not polling a single Brownlow vote all year), and then again in 1997 and with Scott Camporeale in 2000. Ratten 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.

After the retirement of Craig Bradley, Ratten was awarded the club's captaincy in 2002, a position he held until his own retirement.

Ratten's career was seriously plagued by injury. During his time in football, he had 8 arthroscopes on his right knee, 3 arthroscopes on his left knee and a medial ligament. His shoulder was also badly damaged in 2003, which ultimately led to his retirement in the middle of the 2003 season.

After Ratten's retirement in the middle of the 2003 season the captaincy was passed on to Andrew Mackay for the rest of the 2003 season.. Carlton youngster Justin Davies was personally chosen by Ratten to immediately take his number 7 guernsey, waiving the usual one-year retirement for premiership players' guernseys, an offer happily accepted by Davies.

After retirement from playing, Ratten spent one year 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 2nd Division. He remained there until 2006, and then returned to Carlton as an assistant coach for 2007.

On 24 July 2007, Ratten was named as Carlton's Caretaker Coach for the remainder of the 2007 season, following the sacking of Denis Pagan. On 20 August 2007 he signed a contract as Carlton senior coach until the end of 2009. At The end 2008 season Ratten just didn't do enough to put Carlton in the finals with Carlton Finishing 11th on the ladder with tens wins and 12 losses. but the 2008 season was a big improvement from Carlton with Ratten rebuilding the club.

External links

* [http://carltonfc.com.au/TheClub/Coaches/CoachProfile/tabid/8645/coachId/45/teamId/43/typeId/2/Default.aspx Brett Ratten profile] on the Official AFL Website of the Carlton Football Club
* [http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2003/07/15/1058035004751.html Tearful Ratten calls it quits]
* [http://www.blueseum.org/tiki-index.php?page=Brett+Ratten Brett Ratten page at Blueseum]