Brett Ratten will become the third AFL caretaker coach to win the job beyond this season, with St Kilda about to confirm his appointment.

Ratten will front a media conference at Moorabbin on Friday, after Thursday night’s club board meeting ratified the choice of their coaching sub-committee.

He follows North Melbourne’s Rhyce Shaw and Carlton’s David Teague as caretaker senior coaches who are now in the chair for next season.

But unlike Shaw and Teague, who made their senior coaching debuts this year, Ratten was an old hand when he took over from Alan Richardson for the last six rounds.

Ratten coached Carlton to finals from 2009-11 before his controversial 2012 sacking.

He was then an assistant at Hawthorn during their 2013-15 premiership three-peat and joined the Saints this year as the club bolstered their coaching staff.

Ratten was the strong favourite to coach the Saints beyond this season, especially after leading them to three wins in their last six games.

Another indicator might have been this week’s announcement that the Saints had won the services of retired Hawks great Jarryd Roughead in a wide-ranging football department role, given he and Ratten worked together at Hawthorn.

Ratten’s appointment will leave Fremantle as the only club without a coach, following last month’s sacking of Ross Lyon.

Collingwood assistant coach Justin Longmuir, who is understood to have applied for the Saints job, is one of the favourites to take over at the Dockers.

There has also been speculation for several weeks that Essendon and John Worsfold might part ways.

That speculation will ramp up again following Thursday night’s heavy season-ending loss to West Coast in their elimination final.

Don Pyke is also no certainty yet to stay Adelaide coach, despite having two years left on his contract.

The Crows are in the midst of an external review, sparked by their second disappointing season after the 2017 grand final loss.