CARLTON premiership coach and player Robert Walls will return to the club in 2019.

Walls confirmed to Fox Sports News he will take on a voluntary mentoring role with the coaching staff during the week and on match days.

“I’m helping out in a very small way, just as a mentoring role with the coaching staff,” he told AFL Tonight.

“There’s around nine coaches there - at most clubs they’ve got nine or ten coaches. I’ll be just a sounding board, I’ll be there through the week and match days.”

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Walls coached Carlton to the 1987 VFL premiership and then took charge of the Brisbane Bears from 1991 to 1995.

In his final season at the Bears, the team made a stunning charge from 4-11 to make the eight. However the finals system of the era meant the eighth-placed Bears faced top side Carlton. They lost by just 13 points to a Blues side that won the flag by 61 points a few weeks later.

“They’re rock bottom, the Blues, and I’ve been at clubs that have been at rock bottom with Fitzroy and the Brisbane Bears going back a few years,” Walls said.

“I know the game’s changed but there’s some things that don’t change and hopefully I can give them some support. It’s a strictly voluntary role and I hope that the Blues can start their climb up the ladder.”

Walls was optimistic about Carlton’s situation. The Blues won just two games this season on route to a wooden spoon.

Yet the master motivator of West Coast says a rise up the ladder can happen “quicker than you think”.

“(It came about) pretty quickly. There were a few people who asked if I would be prepared to be involved. It means I’m not going to France, so Julie’s not happy, but that can wait a little bit,” Walls said.

“I’m looking forward to it because I watched them play through the year and there’s some young talent there. Hopefully they get Mitch McGovern across and maybe another one or two.

“They need a few players in that 23 to 27 age group, that’s where they really fall down.

“I think we’ve seen in the past, the Bulldogs coming from nowhere, Collingwood 13th last year to almost winning a premiership. It can happen and it can happen quicker than you think.”