Davies has previously played in the BFL with Golden Square in 2007 and 2008.

He won the Bulldogs’ best and fairest in 2008 and was among their better players in the six-point grand final defeat to Eaglehawk that season.

Davies spent this year playing with Mount Pleasant in the Heathcote District Football League, where he was an assistant coach to Shane Davis.

Davies, who has previously played SANFL with Sturt and represented the VCFL, kicked 44 goals for the Blues this year.

“Leigh is going to be great for us,” South Bendigo coach Rick Coburn said yesterday.

“He has a few strings to his bow; we’ve seen him be of great value at centre half-back, but we’ve also seen him play at centre half-forward, and he could probably even play on the ball too.

“Big blokes like that with a bit of quality about them don’t come around all that often, so to have someone with that type of versatility is going to be great for us.”

Davies will join hard-at-it midfielder Brady Childs as a playing assistant coach for the Bloods, who lost to Golden Square by 37 points in this year’s grand final.

With the signing of Davies, it will help to offset the likely unavailability of Michael Leech, with the Bloods preparing to be without Leech following the horrific facial and head injuries he suffered in the grand final.

“Michael is a really determined young fella, but we will assume that he won’t play, and if he does it will be a bonus,” Coburn said.

The Bloods have also landed another key recruit, officially announcing Danny O’Bree will return to the club.

O’Bree, 29, previously coached South Bendigo in 2005 and 2006, leading the Bloods into the preliminary final in both seasons.

Since his departure at the end of 2006, O’Bree has played with Mildura in the Sunraysia Football League, where he co-coached the Demons to the 2007 premiership, and Ouyen in the Mallee Football League this year.