Former Carlton and St Kilda coach Brett Ratten has conclusively ruled out any return to senior coaching in the AFL, expressing he no longer wants to lead a club.
Ratten was surprisingly sacked by the Saints at the end of the 2022 season, with the Moorabbin club moving for Ross Lyon just over a week on from their coaching split.
Following his unceremonious Linton Street departure, Ratten linked up with his old mentor Alastair Clarkson at North Melbourne as a part-time assistant.
With Clarkson requiring time away from the job midway through last year, Ratten stepped into the senior coaching role for ten matches before handing the reins back to the Roos' coach.
Ahead of the current season, Ratten returned to Hawthorn where he was previously an assistant under Clarkson for six years, joining Sam Mitchell's cohort as head of coaching and performance.
The 52-year-old's coaching journey - having been harshly sacked by both the Blues and Saints - has left Ratten losing trust in ever wanting to coach again.
"I don't want to be a senior coach anymore," he told 3AW.
"There's things that happened and maybe I lost a bit of trust."
The Saints have undergone mass changes to their hierarchy since Ratten's departure, with Lyon looking to transition the club's football department to aid his plans moving forward.
The wave of off-field exits have hardly come across Ratten's mind since his last day at RSEA Park, with the Carlton champion stating there's little to take from paying attention to what's happened at the Saints since.
"It's interesting. In life, you can keep reflecting back and look in the rear-vision mirror, but to move on you need to move forward," he said.
"That's as a footy team, individuals, coaches, people and life itself.
"You look at it and then move on quickly. I can't change it, that's what really happens. When you do get the flick you can't change any decision going forward, because you're out of that place.
"For me, it's letting them control what they can control."
Ratten now leads a Hawks coaching contingent led by club great Sam Mitchell, who is entering his third season as senior coach of the club he played 307 games for.
Before being announced as Clarkson's successor, Mitchell had taken the needed steps to be ready for a top job instantly - a route that Ratten believes is paying dividends.
"He's done a lot of work behind the scenes in the build-up to his coaching. He's done an MBA, he's gone off and found great mentors. He's really prepared himself for this opportunity," Ratten said of the Hawks coach.
"He went back and coached Box Hill, he coached his own team. He's really done his own work and planning to become a senior coach and be ready to be a senior coach.
"He's only two years in, but he's got some impressive parts to his coaching."
Mitchell has amassed 15 wins from 45 games in charge of Hawthorn, commencing his tenure through a deep list rebuild that is expected to bear further fruit in 2024.
