St Kilda Football Club is excited to announce the addition of Billy Slater to the club’s football program.

The recently-retired Melbourne Storm superstar will be heavily involved with the Saints’ leadership and development programs through a newly-created role.

Regarded as one of the NRL’s greatest players and one of the key leaders of Melbourne Storm’s revered culture, Slater will work closely with all players, coaches and high-performance staff at the Saints.

The part-time position will see him play a mentoring role with the club’s leaders, while also imparting his views and experiences in relation to professionalism, training standards and match-day performance across the whole playing group.

General Manager of Football Simon Lethlean said Slater’s appointment was a major coup for the club.

“Billy’s sporting resume is second to none, and he will add great value to our club,” Lethlean said.

“He’s been an impressive leader in his own right, but he’s also been a key member of a culture that is highly respected across all sports.

“Over the course of the season, we identified that there was an opportunity to strengthen our leadership and development programs, and we think Billy can play an important role in that.

“He will work closely with our current leaders as well as our emerging leaders to help them develop their leadership capacity and optimise their professionalism and performance.”

Slater is expected to the begin the part-time role early in the pre-season.