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BELL Park champion Ben Armstrong believes he can make more of a contribution from the coaching box after announcing his retirement.
Armstrong has drawn the curtain on his playing career a month from the Dragons' finals campaign, revealing a nagging foot injury and the rigours of senior football had forced his hand.
"It wasn't that I couldn't contribute on the ground. I played some OK footy this year but I probably felt I could contribute more off the field than on," said Armstrong, who played in Bell Park's 2003 and 2011 premierships - the only Dragon to do so.
"Once that was established, there was only one decision to make and that was to retire and I'm pretty comfortable with the decision."
Armstrong, co-coach of the Dragons' senior team with Tim Sheringham, said he had considered retirement before the Round 12 clash against Leopold.
"Throughout the bye period I had a decent amount of time to reflect on how we were tracking and it was probably brought on there and the decision was revealed to the playing group about three weeks ago," Armstrong said.
"Tim and I were always going to have a model where Tim would play and I would coach from the bench.
"I'm six years older than Tim and we felt it was probably about time.
"I'm playing in a really good team with a lot of depth at the minute and you've got to have good form. I'm 32 and there comes a time when calls have to be made.
"I'm pretty keen on coaching both myself and Tim are and I don't feel like I'm stopping essentially, I'm just concentrating on the coaching side of my role."
Armstrong celebrated his 250th game against Grovedale in Round 10 and laced up the boots for the final time against South Barwon the following week.
"Be it injury or the rigours of the game, it was a pretty tough call but it was made entirely by me," he said.
"It wasn't brought on by anyone else and it was something I'd been thinking about for a while. I've been pretty lucky throughout my playing career. I've been able to win a couple of flags and I'm not desperately hanging on to play in another premiership.
"I think my greater role is to support Tim off the ground and that's the call that was made."
Armstrong said retirement would change little as his team prepares for another premiership tilt.
"It frees up a bit more time to concentrate on the other boys but it's not really a relief," he said.
"The boys had a really good win in the wet on the weekend and it was great to be part of it and when you're still coaching, it's not like you're going anywhere."
