Stefan Martin will stay on at the Western Bulldogs in 2023 after retiring last month, with a job as a development coach keeping him at Whitten Oval.
Martin called time on his 203-game career after playing just four games in 2022 as injuries hampered his two years at The Kennel.
While he failed to make a big impact on-field for this third club, Martin clearly helped off it as he revealed senior coach Luke Beveridge offered him a role at his end-of-season exit meeting.
“We had the sort of end-of-season review with Bevo,” Martin explained on SEN Mornings.
“We discussed my playing future and decided I wouldn’t go on.
“But he earmarked that I was welcome to join the coaching ranks in this capacity if I wanted to.
“So, it was at the end-of-season review after our getting bailed out of finals.”
Having spent five years at Melbourne and eight successful years at Brisbane, Martin was annoyed that he couldn’t recapture his best football at the Bulldogs but is glad he can keep making an impact at the club.
“I went there with high hopes that I could recapture my best footy,” Martin said.
“I felt very grateful to get the opportunity by the Dogs.
“I feel I didn’t quite do what I set out to do, which was largely because of the body which sucked.
“But it is what it is, I had a good time there and luckily, I can keep working with those guys that I came to have an impact on.”
Martin says a big part of his development role will be working with the club’s talls, a crop he considers “the best in the league”.
“It (working with the talls) is a big part of it, I’ll be doing a bit of general development stuff but with a focus on the big guys,” Martin said.
“Then there’s a VFL coaching role too when that season gets up and running.
“It’s enormous, in my position to have him (Sam Darcy), Tim English and now Rory Lobb, the quality of super tall guys that we’ve got on our list, I reckon it’s got to be the best in the league.
“Particularly with Sam, I think the sky is the limit, he’s so coachable, he’s so keen to improve and he’s so talented.
“He’ll do everything it takes to make it, it’s just a matter of working out where he fits on the ground.”
Martin will work closely with midfield coach Brendon Lade who is also a new coaching addition at the Bulldogs for 2023.