For the first time in nearly two decades, St Kilda great Leigh Montagna can eat and drink whatever he likes. He can go for a run or to the gym whenever he wants to, or not go at all if he doesn’t want to.

The dual All-Australian is only three months into retirement, but already he is enjoying not having to mould every part of his life around being a footballer.

The little man gnawing at his conscience has left the building.

“Every time you would eat something or go and have a beer, you’re thinking about your skinfolds and how you’ve got to do your run and weights at some stage that day,” Montagna told the Sunday Herald Sun.

“It’s nice not to have that little man there anymore because now you don’t have to worry about it, if I don’t feel like going for a run you don’t have to, if you feel like eating or drinking whatever, just go for it.

“That’s the way I have described not being an AFL player anymore at the moment, just having that nice bit of freedom.

“I’ve put on a few kilos but I’m enjoying it, enjoying that little man not being there.”

While many before him have struggled with the transition into the next phase of life, Montagna has been preparing for life after football for a few years now.

After calling a few games for Triple M late last season, Montagna will become a permanent fixture of the FM station team in 2018, falling in the footsteps of former North Melbourne and Sydney great Wayne Schwass, who has called games instead of just providing special comments.

“I can completely understand how hard it would be for guys who finish prematurely and unexpectedly whereas I have for the last two or three years planned for what life looks like after footy,” he says.

“I’ve done the calling and thrown a few irons in the fire. I know it could be daunting about what life looks like next year but for me it’s actually exciting.

“I’m lucky that I’ve got options whereas I’ve seen some of my teammates who didn’t have many options and have had to take a job as a sales rep or something they didn’t really want to do but simply had to.”

While Montagna won’t miss the little man, St Kilda will miss the little man in the No. 11, whose precise right foot cut games apart for 16 years.