St Kilda star Jack Steven has been given a licence to roam in Saturday’s AFL clash with Carlton after making his return to the AFL with a bang.
The 29-year-old was key to the last-gasp win over Fremantle in round 21, snapping his third goal to get the Saints within striking distance before Josh Bruce’s match-winner.
It was Steven’s first game back in the AFL after taking two breaks this season to deal with mental health issues.
While admittedly “overweight and underfit”, the four-time best and fairest winner made a huge impact and interim Saints coach Brett Ratten says he’s up for an even bigger workload against the Blues.
Stevens played mainly forward against the Dockers but will return to the midfield against Carlton at the MCG.
In their round 17 clash with the Blues last season, Steven finished with 33 disposals and two goals in a 64-point win.
“With the first-up performance we had to be a bit mindful of him and how much he got up the ground but I think now he’s had a game and played three games of VFL, he can start to get through the midfield a bit more and that will be good for us,” Ratten said on Friday.
Steven has been linked with a potential off-season move to Geelong, but Ratten said enjoying his football and helping the Saints to wins could only strengthen their case to keep their star.
After three wins and a loss from his four games in charge, Ratten is all but certain to take over as permanent coach of St Kilda, having stepped up impressively in the caretaker role since the departure of Alan Richardson.
North Melbourne locked in Rhyce Shaw last month while the Blues this week appointed David Teague, but Ratten isn’t expecting to complete the caretaker-to-coach trifecta anytime soon.
“It would be nice but time will take care of itself,” Ratten said.
“Good on those boys. They have done a very good job at their footy club and hopefully we can just finish off the season strong and see what happens.
“Yes, we are getting some wins, but this is a long-term thing as well that the football club has to take into consideration.
“It’s not just ‘Yeah, because the footy’s going well, the boys are up and about and we’ve had three out of four wins’ you should be the coach.”
