Ratten hoping Steven will return to side and stay a Saint
BRETT Ratten hopes Jack Steven stays at St Kilda amid reported interest from Geelong, while stressing that the priority is the star’s happiness.
The caretaker Saints coach is also confident that Steven and fellow onballer Dan Hannebery will return to the senior side before the end of the season.
Hannebery will miss tonight’s game against Melbourne at Marvel Stadium as he continues to recover from a hamstring problem.
Steven will have another game in the VFL as he returns from his mental health layoff, but now there’s speculation that Geelong will resume its attempts to lure him away.
The four-time Saints bestand-fairest winner has Lorne connections and the Cats tried to recruit the former Geelong Falcon last year.
Asked if he hoped Steven stayed, Ratten said it was a list management decision but “you’d love to have him at the footy club”
Ratten also noted that Steven appeared happy in the wake of his leave from the club.
“Whatever’s best for Jack, if he’s happy, that’s the main thing,” he said.
Ratten said the Saints hoped Steven and Hannebery would return to the seniors before the end of the season, but there are no guarantees.
“Whatever Dan does this year, we want to make sure he finishes the season strong and he gets back out on the park — if that’s one game, four games, I don’t know,” Ratten said.
“At the moment, he looks like playing (next week) against Adelaide.”
More immediately, Ratten is wary of the Demons’ talent as he tries to build on the big win over the Western Bulldogs.
Ratten is the latest caretaker coach to open his account with a win and said the challenge was to maintain that spike in form, especially the Saints’ strong first quarter against the Bulldogs.