MELBOURNE will have two full-time midfield coaches in 2010, with Scott West stepping up from the part-time role he held this year.

West, who retired at the end of 2008 after 324 games for the Western Bulldogs, accepted the expanded position early this month to work with Mark Williams, who has been on the Demons' staff for most of this decade.

The 34-year-old has also put his landscaping and transport business interests aside to focus solely on football.

"Last season was a great transition from playing to coaching. I was six months into the job when I thought, 'Maybe I should have gone full-time'," West told melbournefc.com.au.

"It was a great opportunity to see coaching part-time and not have all of the commitments of it every day, having just come out of playing.

"It's really hard to juggle a few things - especially businesses - so I've decided this is the path I'd love to take and to do this, you've got to go into it 100 per cent."

Although West and Williams will have specific areas of responsibility, the pair will cross over for some of them.

West said he would be looking after the centre bounce and stoppages while Williams would take control of the midfielders' work around the ground.

"Last year, I was probably working under Mark a little bit, but now we're working side by side and we've both got our different roles in the midfield," West said.

"He's got the coaching experience and I'll be tapping into that, but [with me] just having finished playing, he can tap into that. So it'll be a good mix to get some success into this midfield."

West admitted he still wore "a little bit of the players' hat" and that was an approach he would sustain when guiding the players: many of them still in the early stages of their careers.

Undertaking some development coaching towards the end of his own career would have also helped his transition.

"You can never forget how hard it was to play and that's something I can take into coaching at the moment," he said. "It's a hard game. If it was easy, everyone would be doing it.

"At times, we can get critical of our players when they make mistakes, but sometimes you've got to remember it's not an easy game.

"You've certainly got to balance that in assessing the stakes."

West added that after 16 years at the Bulldogs, an adjustment period was needed at his new club.

"Every now and then, I might drop something about the Bulldogs, but then you pull yourself up very quickly - or someone else does," he said.

"Coming here, it's great to be able to see it from another point of view. It's a great learning curve to be able to come into a new club.

"The impact you can have on players and yourself in coaching comes from leaving [your playing club]."

West said he was eager to now make his mark at Melbourne and aimed to have an impact on a range of players, regardless of their experience.

"I'm really looking forward to improving a team that has a skeleton of what could become a good team and a successful team," he said.

"I'll certainly look to help more mature players, [because] they've still got the right to develop."