COLLINGWOOD premiership player Leigh Brown hopes to pursue a career in coaching after announcing his retirement on Thursday.
 
Brown, 29, told his teammates - who turned out in force for his farewell press conference - of his decision earlier in the day ahead of training.

He said he was well prepared for the next stage of his life, having gained coaching experience with TAC Cup team the Calder Cannons and completing a course with the AFL's coaches association recently.

The former North Melbourne and Fremantle player said he was at ease with not playing on, but coach Mick Malthouse admitted he was "staggered" when he was told of his decision.

"That's the path I want to take and I feel really comfortable with where I'm at and the decision I've made," Brown said.

"I feel like I've got it off my chest by telling the club and my teammates.

"It was a really nice moment this morning so I feel really good and comfortable."

Brown, from Heyfield - a south-eastern Victorian town - admitted he had thought about retirement in recent months, and simply felt it was time to go for a number of reasons.

"I guess once you start thinking about it and you've been around for a while, you know when your time is right, and I feel like my time is right to leave the game," he said.

"It's a bit physical, a bit mental. I've been in the game for 12 years and I'm not getting any younger, so I think the time is right from the feeling within."

Malthouse - who first set eyes on Brown in 1999 when he was playing under-18s for Gippsland Power and was later impressed by him in a VFL game during Brown's time at the Kangaroos - said it was a brave decision.

"I've always preached if the glass is half full or got something left in it, it's a good time [to retire] because too many exhaust it, and the next year becomes a year they would like to forget," he said.

"I think it takes an enormous amount of courage to do what Leigh's done."

Brown's popularity was evident on Thursday when the entire playing group, including skipper Nick Maxwell - who didn't train beforehand - turned out to support, and heckle, their retiring teammate.

Malthouse said the fact there was "not one negative" about Brown, and the ease at which he got along with his peers, would all contribute to him becoming a good coach.

"What we learn early on was he was always tagged as a great bloke, and that covers that part of it, and the second part is he gets on so well with everyone," he said.

"Every place he's been to, all his teammates say the same thing; he's a ripping person, a team man, hard, hardly ever misses, he's very durable.

"When he's telling you about his body and he can't go on next year, it's significant.

"Even with the coaching side of things, he's got great capabilities of being a good coach - at what level, that will be determined in the future I suppose.

"He can get on with players, and that's the most important thing - to be able to get on with players and get them to think the same way you do.

"I reckon he'll be a very good coach because he's got the attributes to be a good coach."

Brown has spent the past three seasons with Collingwood after previously appearing for Fremantle and North Melbourne, and has played 242 games and booted 136 goals.
 
He was originally drafted by Fremantle with pick No.5 in the 1999 draft, and played 62 matches in three seasons before he moved to North Melbourne, where he played 118 games from 2003-08.
 
After being delisted by the Kangaroos, Brown was drafted by the Magpies with the 73rd overall pick in the 2008 NAB AFL Draft.
 
He was an integral part of the Magpies’ 2010 Grand Final triumph, playing 19 games and kicking 21 goals that year as a key position option and back-up ruckman.
 
Earlier this year, Brown became the second player in the history of VFL/AFL football to play 50 matches with three clubs, after Glenn Coleman (Fitzroy, Sydney Swans and Western Bulldogs).

He said he was looking forward to the final home-and-away match against Geelong on Friday night, and then the Magpies' finals campaign.

"We've got another five weeks of business and I'm really looking forward to that and playing that out," he said.

"It's just my time to leave the game at the end of the season."

Jennifer Witham covers Collingwood news for the AFL Website. Follow her on Twitter @AFL_JenWitham.