Brett Ratten hopes Jack Steven stays at St Kilda, while stressing that the priority is the AFL 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 Saturday night’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 their attempts to lure him away.
The four-time Saints best and fairest has Lorne connections and the Cats tried to recruit him last year.
Asked if he hopes Steven stays, Ratten said it is a list management decision.
“But what a great player – four b and f’s, he’s been outstanding for the football club and he’s just such a talent,” Ratten added.
“If you’re coaching – if – you want talent around and he has an abundance of that.
“So you’d love to have him at the footy club.”
Ratten also noted that Steven appears 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 hope Steven and Hannebery will 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.
“What we know is they have a lot of talent on their list and a lot of talent on the field,” he said.
“So their good is very good.”
Ratten is the latest caretaker coach to open his account with a win and said the challenge is to maintain that spike in form, especially their strong first quarter against the Bulldogs.
“You’re not going to always play like that every week, but we were on the front foot,” he said.
“First quarters haven’t been a great thing through the season, so that’s our challenge, to how we can maintain that.”