THREE-TIME Geelong premiership player Joel Corey has joined the Western Bulldogs as a development coach.
Corey, who played 276 games for the Cats over 14 seasons, only hung up his boots last month, and the 31-year-old was recently linked to a potential move to Greater Western Sydney.
But he has become the latest in a long line of ex-Geelong people, including Ben Graham, Matthew Scarlett and Cameron Mooney, to join the Dogs since Brendan McCartney took over as coach.
Although Corey is renowned for being very quiet, the Bulldogs are confident that he will provide valuable expertise and leadership to their young players.
"Joel is highly respected across the industry for his selfless attitude and desire to make his peers better, and we are thrilled to again have someone of such high calibre choose to join the Western Bulldogs," the club's general manager of football, Graham Lowe, told westernbulldogs.com.au.
"We know Joel is a high-quality person. His premiership experience, along with his outstanding character, make him an excellent addition to our group of coaches as well as the football department broadly."
Corey joined Geelong from East Perth in the 1999 NAB AFL Draft.
A midfielder whose trademarks were his clearance work and attacking use of handball, he won the Cats' best and fairest, the 'Carji' Greeves Medal, in 2005 and 2008.
He was also selected in the All Australian team on two occasions and polled 92 Brownlow Medal votes.
"Joel has been the ultimate team first player, and is one of the league's most respected players for the way he competed and played the game," Geelong coach Chris Scott said after Corey announced his retirement.
