Collingwood premiership player Ben Reid has returned to the AFL landscape after securing a development role at the Western Bulldogs.
Reid played 152 games for the Pies during a successful era at the club, yielding the 2010 flag and close losses in 2011 and 2018.
The All-Australian hung up the boots following the 2020 season and returned to where he grew up and played most of his junior football: Wangaratta.
Reid joined Ovens and Murray League club Wangaratta Magpies, initially signing on as a player-coach in 2022 and 2023 before joining the coaching ranks full-time.
The 35-year-old had a strong hand in helping Collingwood draft small forward Joe Richards at Pick 48 in the 2022 National Draft, who was recently traded to Port Adelaide.
Reid will reunite with Bulldogs coach Luke Beveridge, who spent time at the Pies during the left-footer's playing days in 2009 and 2010.
"Bevo gave me a call last week, and I am just really excited to get in here and meet everyone. It is a really exciting group of forwards – quality talls and smalls that play an exhilarating brand of footy,” Reid said.
"I found a real passion for coaching - the relationships, the day-to-day work - it really sparked something for me. I am just rapt to have landed at a great club like the Western Bulldogs.
"I am really strong on building good habits, from day one of pre-season all the way through a year and overall trying to get players to have really long careers.
"Bevo was my first development coach at Collingwood, so it has come full circle, and I am excited to get to work."
Reid is the only addition to the Bulldogs coaching panel after Jamie Maddocks' departure to West Coast last month.