PORT Adelaide ruckman Brendon Lade says he'll consider a transition to coaching next season but is unlikely to remain at Alberton.
On Wednesday, Lade announced he would start and finish his career beside long-time teammate Peter Burgoyne by retiring after Saturday night's clash with North Melbourne.
Lade, 33, has already been linked to an assistant coaching role at Adelaide, but said he wouldn't make a decision on his future until later in the year.
"After next week there'll probably be a few frothies will all the boys and then I'll sit down with a few people and have a few chats," Lade said on Wednesday.
"I'm also interested in building and developing.
"I've been with Choco (coach Mark Williams) now for 13 years and I know one way.
"It would be great to stay at the same club for your whole life. But I had a chat to Choco about if you do want to become a senior coach, and that's your goal in life, you need to get other experiences, see what else is out there and what other people do."
Lade said the prospect of willing himself through a 14th pre-season had prompted his decision to retire.
"Last year's pre-season was tough and there are whispers from (fitness coach) Cam Falloon that this one is going to be tougher, so the boys will be happy with that," Lade said.
"My goal was initially just to play an AFL game and once you start playing you change your goals. To say my goal was to be an All-Australian … that was never one. To win a premiership, obviously that's the number one goal.
"Probably the only thing I haven't achieved that I probably would have liked was a Brownlow Medal. I've achieved everything else that I'd like to."
The premiership player, who sits third on the Power's games record list, will finish on 234.
Two broken legs early in his career robbed Lade of the opportunity to challenge for No. 1 but he conceded the injuries could have got the better of him anyway.
"I wouldn't have got through the broken legs or any of that if it wasn't for the 40 blokes who came to see me the first time in hospital," he said.
"Without that support there's no way in the world I would have done it.
"After the second break, I remember going off and sitting up on the stretcher thinking this could be it; that this could be the last thing I do in football and that was a pretty scary thing."
Coach Mark Williams said Lade was the ultimate team man and that it would be difficult to replace one of the best tap ruckmen the game has ever seen.
"There's no way any of these [young] guys are going to be able to do what Ladey can do right now, but given the opportunity and [the fact that] they can see a spot there, it's amazing how young blokes develop," Williams said.
"At the start, we watched Brendon run with a turned-out leg and there were so many things [wrong] that you thought there was no way in the world he would ever be sitting here today being in the top-five players at a club and All-Australian."
Former captain Warren Tredrea the sole remaining member of Port Adelaide's inaugural squad.
