BRAD Miller says he can’t wait to return to Melbourne, albeit in a different role as a development coach.

The 30 year-old, who played 133 of his 157 AFL matches with Melbourne from 2002-10 – he also played 24 games with Richmond from 2011-12 – said he relished the opportunity to start his coaching career with the club where it all began for him in the AFL.  

“It’s really exciting to come on board. It’s all taken shape over the last week - I’m just rapt to be back, and hopefully I can contribute in a meaningful way over the next few years,” Miller told melbournefc.com.au.

“It’s something I’m really excited about, helping the list develop and with my main focus on the guys who play at VFL level.

“I’ll be going through their tape and playing a coaching role with them on VFL game day, so that’ll be exciting.”

The 2008 Melbourne leading goalkicker said a meeting with coach Paul Roos and general manager of football operations Josh Mahoney sealed the deal.

“I’d always had a keen interest in coaching and I’d taken the 12 months off [from the AFL] and got a job outside football,” Miller said.

“Throughout the year, I really missed it and I knew that’s where my heart was and I was really keen to get back involved.

“I just called Josh and Josh got me in, and once Paul was appointed, my name might’ve been mentioned in a meeting and I then went in and had a meeting with them and it worked out to be a good fit.”

Miller said it had been good for him to have a three year break from Melbourne before returning.

“For my own development as a person and also as a football person, it was great to go to another club and experience a club like Richmond, which has a really proud history, and it was great to tap into that history and supporter base. So it was really good to experience that,” he said.

“It took a bit of time outside footy as well to sharpen my focus on what was really important to me. Throughout the year, I really started to plot how I could get back involved.”

But he said it had been difficult seeing the club battle in his time away.

“Seeing the club go through what it’s gone through in the last couple of years – it hasn’t been great, as a past player and as a Dees’ fan,” he said.

“When the opportunity came to talk to Paul and contribute in some way, it was really appealing.

“Once Paul came on board, I think a lot of supporters got behind that straight away, so I just really think there are going to be some really quality people around the club and there is going to be some change, which will be great.”

Miller played with Heidelberg in the Northern Football League this year – his first year out of the AFL system since being drafted at No. 55 in the 2001 AFL Draft – and worked as a financial planner.

“I had a job in retirement planning, so we’d sit down with people and try and nut out a fruitful future with their financial life,” he said.

“It was something outside what I was used to and I really wanted to do that, because I wanted to expose myself to a different set of skills - in hindsight it was a really good thing to do. It really showed me where my passion lies and what I really wanted to pursue.

“Playing local football was really good as well, because they’re a good local club and have been in the last nine Grand Finals. They’ve got a really good culture within the club, where they expect to win every week. It was good to be involved in that environment as well, even though it was at a lower level.”

Roughly a third of Melbourne’s current list either played an AFL match with Miller or was at the club when he was last at the Demons in 2010.

But Miller said he was looking forward to reuniting with several of his former teammates.

“It’ll be great, because I’m not coming straight from being on the list - I’ve had a few years’ break,” he said.

“It’s really good in that sense, because you can take your player’s hat off for a couple of years and then come back with a new hat on. You’re there to do a job and be a professional in that sense.

“I’ve still got some great mates that I played with at the club, but I think that can continue on a professional level, where you’re there to do a job and they’ll respect that and I’ll respect their job that they’ve got to do.”