Western Bulldogs champion Luke Darcy has revealed one of the key factors in his decision to walk away from the media last year.

Darcy, who turns 50 later this year, went into the media immediately after his 226-game career came to an end in 2007.

He quickly rose the ranks and became a prominent member of Channel 7’s team, as well as radio station Triple M.

But Darcy walked away at the end of last season, ending a 17-year stint in the media.

At the time, Darcy said he wanted to spend more time with his family and focus on interests outside of football, but he has now revealed his son Sam also played a part.

Sam was drafted to the Bulldogs at the end of 2021 as a father-son selection and quickly emerged as a rising star of the future.

Darcy worked on a game involving his son and it quickly regretted it, making it easier to walk away.

“And there was a little bit of Sam as well. I was very conscious of giving clear air to him and it was getting uncomfortable,’’ Darcy said on the Dyl & Friends podcast.

“I’d been at Seven for years and suddenly you’re rostered on a game where your son’s playing. I said ‘hard no, I’m not doing it’ and understandably they’re going we’ve paid you, we’d like you do it.

“We had a fairly healthy debate around not doing it, I did it once and I just regretted it straight away. That made it a bit easier wanting to give him as much space as I could as well.”

Darcy added that it was nice to go out on his own terms after being involved in footy for over 30 years.

“I felt like I had this great chapter and unbelievably lucky to fall into ... you know Triple M footy with those guys was about as much as you could have,” he continued.

“It was just the fact that from the age of 17 to I’m turning 50 in a couple of months time, all my winter months had been on a plane and travelling and that was the main decision. Unbelievable wife, who’s a superstar, who I genuinely love and love spending time with.

“I just felt like there were some other chapters of passion I wanted to pursue.

“There’s some stuff in the business world that I was really loving. Can I buy back all that time? Would I regret not calling another 100 AFL games? No. But I’d regret not jumping into that pond and have a crack, bit of the unknown, stuff I love, trying to build something I’ve been working on.

“I’m really enjoying that. It was nice to do it on your own terms. You don’t get to do that too often in that space. You normally get sacked.”