Coming off a rare injury-free pre-season, the 27-year-old was in high spirits as he, and teammates Steven Baker, Jarryn Geary and Nick Heyne, put 100 eager youngsters through their paces at a coaching clinic at Deakin yesterday.

Despite ending the year on a low note, with the Saints falling to Geelong in the grand final, nothing could take the sheen off Koschitze's best season since his 2001 rookie year.

A stop-gap player in past campaigns, Koschitze relished a regular move to the goalsquare, booting a career-high 48 goals.

He also polled 11 votes in the Brownlow Medal, a sign he is finally living up to the hype generated from being the No2 draft pick in 2000.

Koschitze, 197cm, spent his early years in the ruck.

But the impact of banging bodies with the AFL's elite took its toll as he suffered a series of hamstring and quad injuries.

That all changed with the recruitment of Geelong's Steven King and West Coast's Michael Gardner.

''It's been great with Kingy and Michael Gardner the last few years, they've taken the responsibility of the ruck load,'' he said.

''It's allowed me to play forward with [Nick] Riewoldt, which has helped our structure and it's helped me work on a few aspects of my game.''

Veteran Steven Baker said a rampaging Koschitze spelt danger for defences.

''When the ball's in the air he's pretty much unstoppable,'' Baker said.

''He's made that full forward spot his own the past couple years so it's up to us to make sure we get the ball down to him.

For more, pick up a copy of today's Canberra Times