St George Illawarra premiership-winning captain Ben Hornby will re-unite with Wayne Bennett after scoring a job as a development coach at South Sydney.
Hornby and Bennett combined to guide the Dragons to their drought-breaking NRL title in 2010 before going their separate ways two years later.
Bennett left for Newcastle while Hornby retired after 273 games across 13 seasons and immediately moving into coaching at the club.
The former NSW representative slowly moved up the ranks and has been an assistant to current head coach Paul McGregor for the past five years.
However Hornby now appears a casualty of the club's review into their football department following their 15th-place finish last season.
The 39-year-old is set to wear new colours for the first time having spent almost two decades donning red-and-white.
"Ben is a tremendous person with a sharp football mind and his appointment will be very beneficial for our players and the coaching ranks at our club," Rabbitohs general manager Shane Richardson said on Thursday.
"He has worked under Wayne (Bennett) and (assistant Jason (Demetriou) previously and they speak very highly of him as a coach and as a person."
Hornby, who played three Origin games for NSW as well as one Test for Australia, joins the recently-retired John Sutton and Greg Inglis as coaches in Redfern.
"(Ben) is building a strong coaching base at all levels of the game and he will be a great mentor for both Greg and John as they begin their coaching journeys this year," Richardson said.
"Ben was a first class player, is regarded as one of the top young coaches in the game, and we're delighted to have him join our team for the coming season."
Australian Associated Press
