Dale Steyn insists it's tongue-in-cheek, but the veteran fast bowler's standing as a role model for a few of Australia's most promising young quicks means his interest in becoming a formal mentor is a suggestion worth viewing seriously.

Steyn was recently cited by Australia paceman Pat Cummins as well as Test squad member Brendan Doggett as an exemplar for the purity of his technique and the combativeness of his character.

Cummins nominated the fluency of Steyn's run-up and the menace of his 'angry eyes' as qualities he would replicate in his 'ideal fast bowler', while 24-year-old Doggett has unashamedly modelled himself on the South African strike weapon.

Steyn, who was in Australia with the Proteas during their successful ODI and T20 campaigns, did not have an opportunity to catch up with Queenslander Doggett who was part of Australia's recent Test campaign in the UAE.

But Steyn says that as an unabashed fan of fast bowling, regardless of which team or country is producing it, he is happy to lend advice and encouragement to any practitioner who seeks his counsel.

And the 35-year-old, who might now have made his final playing visit to Australia given that South Africa are not scheduled to contest a bilateral series in any format here until 2023, half-seriously suggested that wisdom might ideally be dispensed in a formal role.

"I'd love to make a joke right now and say 'make me a bowling coach'," Steyn told cricket.com.au when made aware of Doggett's admiration.

"But I'm a fan of fast bowling, and I go through phases myself where I draw inspiration from other fast bowlers.

"Mitchell Johnson when he was on fire during that Ashes (in 2013-14) was just inspirational, I loved watching him.

"Brett Lee at the 2003 World Cup, for me, are highlights; Shoaib (Akhtar from Pakistan) in '99, Allan Donald throughout his whole career, I can shout it out to you.

"But if there's any bowler who wants any type of advice, I'm happy to share what I've got because I'm a fan of fast bowling.

"And even when there's a fast bowler playing against us and bowling really quick and bowling really well, I sit back and instead of sitting there with fear thinking 'I have to go and face this', I actually really enjoy it.

"I enjoy watching it because now I've got to go out there and I've got to match him.

"So any time there's someone who wants to know something, I'm happy to pass on whatever knowledge I have to other bowlers."

The credentials that Steyn would bring to any such role are compelling.

He currently stands alongside former South Africa captain Shaun Pollock as the nation's leading Test wicket-taker (with 421 scalps from 20 fewer Tests), with a further 250 victims at international level in the white-ball formats.

However, he has struggled with injuries in recent years including the shoulder fracture he sustained during the Proteas' successful Test tour to Australia in 2016.

And the fact that he hasn't played a T20 International in more than two years – with South Africa looking to the shortest format as a vehicle primarily for younger players – indicates he won't be in Australia for the World T20 tournament in 2020.

As a consequence, Steyn is contemplating the legacy that he might leave as he enters the twilight of his playing career, and contemplates the contribution he will continue to make to a game that's been his life since the age of nine.

Above all, he wants to ensure the artform he came to personify survives and prospers into the future.

"I want to see fast bowling go from strength to strength," he told cricket.com.au.

"You see subtle things like reverse swing start to slip out of the game (but) I think there's still a few fast bowlers in the world that can achieve that.

"Unfortunately, when you're playing on grounds like Adelaide and you've got two brand new (white) balls, or at the Perth Stadium, you're not going to get much reverse swing, so that skill goes out of the game.

"Which is a sad thing, because when some bowler comes and asks you 'how do you reverse swing', the sad news is to tell him 'you might not ever have the opportunity at doing that the way the game is going'."

South Africa captain Faf du Plessis, who has played most of his international career in teams led by Steyn's irrepressible fast bowling, believes it's the 35-year-old's skill with the older ball that sets him apart.

And underpinned his reputation as one of the most potent and feared quicks in world cricket since his debut in a Test against England at Port Elizabeth in 2004.

"He started with the new ball and he bowled with great swing and skill, he didn't focus too much on pace," du Plessis told cricket.com.au.

"Then you'd give him the old ball, as soon as that ball has a hint of reverse swing, you'll see those legs will start kicking faster, he'll start running a bit quicker and that's when you know that this is the spell, when he starts bowling like that.

"I think he was so experienced that he waited for a time in the game when he said 'right, now I'm going to go 100 per cent and I'm going to run in here and bowl as quick as I can'.

"And that's generally when he was at his most dangerous."