Despite making a strong start to the 2022 campaign, St Kilda champion Nick Riewoldt thinks his former club should still be calling Alastair Clarkson before the end of the year.
With the legendary coach a free agent and with plenty of interest from around the league, it's believed that Clarkson will return to coaching in 2023, with speculation of where he might end up has been rife for months now.
After an underwhelming 2021 season, St Kilda head coach Brett Ratten entered this season under pressure. However, the scrutiny has done little to curtail the Saints, who enter the bye with an 8-3 win-loss record.
With the club sitting in fourth, Riewoldt was asked on AFL 360 about the club sounding out Clarkson despite Ratten's positive start to 2022.
“You‘d make the call to gauge interest for a start,” the club legend said.
“I think you’d be derelict in your duty if you didn’t make the call. If Alastair Clarkson was busting to get to your football club, then I think you’d make the phone call.”
Playing devil's advocate, Fox Footy Analyst David King said he thought that calling Clarkson would be disrespectful to Ratten.
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“At what point are you happy? You have to create an environment and a culture and if someone’s achieving what you want them to, you endorse them”, he said.
“I‘d be extremely disappointed if I was Brett Ratten and had done what I’ve done this year and someone picked up the phone and rang Alastair Clarkson."
King was adamant the Saints should stick with Ratten. Following such a dismal 2021, he said the turnaround in 2022 was all the more impressive.
“If I was Brett, I‘d be livid with them making that phone call.” he said.
“I think you‘re happy with what you’re seeing. You’ve set up a really good foundation, they talked about this (rebounding) last year and we laughed
"Halfway through last year, Andrew Bassett sent a letter to the members apologising for their plight and look where they are now. We have to trust that what they’ve done has set them up for good opportunity going forward.”
Interestingly, in the same segment on AFL 360, Riewoldt also appeared to back the re-signing of Ratten when discussing their turnaround this season.
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"What stands out this year, it's the combination of game style that's really standing up, and then you combine that with the intangibles." he said.
"So, the embracing of roles, accountability at the selection table, so a player that's been a mainstay like Jack Billings goes out, then Butler goes out, so [he's] not afraid to make the hard calls.
"There's a spirit and a selflessness now amongst this group, and a resilience as well that hasn't been there in previous years.
"So, I think Brett Ratten is doing a great job, they're rolling at the moment."
St Kilda is set to face arguably the sternest test of their season after the bye when they travel to the Gabba to face Chris Fagan's firing Lions side.
