South Barwon signs former Fremantle forward Josh Corbett as Nathan Brown a ‘strong chance’ to join Swans

After retiring from the AFL, this former mature-age recruit will ply his trade at one of the best country clubs in Victoria. And a premiership Magpie is poised to join him.

Josh Corbett has signed with South Barwon. Picture: Martin Keep/Getty Images

Geelong league grand finalist South Barwon has landed former Fremantle and Gold Coast forward Josh Corbett as a playing assistant coach, with a premiership Magpie player also poised to feature for the Swans in 2025.

Corbett, 28, announced his retirement from the AFL in September after being sidelined for the entire 2024 season after undergoing a full hip replacement in November last year.

A connection through his sister Georgia and her fiance Sam James, who play netball and football respectively at the Swans, was key in helping convince Corbett to sign after moving to Geelong from Western Australia.

Corbett, who played 41 AFL games after being taken as a mature-age recruit in 2018, rang South Barwon coach Mark Neeld to confirm his commitment on Monday morning.

Neeld said there is also a “very strong” chance that Collingwood and St Kilda big man Nathan Brown will bolster South Barwon’s dangerous forward line at some stage in 2025.

Brown, 36, is yet to sign but talks are ongoing with the former lockdown defender, who is head of football at Geelong College and last played in Barwon Heads’ Bellarine premiership in 2022.

Nathan Brown celebrates a goal for Barwon Heads in 2022. Picture: Mike Dugdale

“There is a strong chance that you will see ‘Browny’ running around for South Barwon and yes we have spoken to him,” Neeld said.

“I have known Browny for a long time, I was working at Collingwood when Browny was drafted.

“Browny has got a full-time job, he’s got family, we’ve got a few things to work out. But I’d expect it is a very strong chance that you will see him in our forward line at some stage this season.”

Corbett is eager to pursue coaching and has joined South Barwon to gain experience under coach Mark Neeld and play in the strong Geelong competition.

However, the North Warrnambool product is still completing rehab as he recovers from his serious hip blow and there will be no expectations placed on him from a playing perspective.

“Sam sent me a text pre-Christmas to say he and his wife were considering moving back down this way,” Neeld said.

“So I sent a message out to Josh and just introduced myself and said, ‘if this comes to fruition, let’s catch up’. It did, we did catch up and the chats centred around looking at what Josh wants to do into the future.

“He is very keen to begin a coaching journey, so he comes on board for us as a playing assistant coach. He also wants to see if he can play footy, we know Josh has had an operation on his hip so we will give him all the time and assistance he needs to recover from that.

“Josh is going through his rehab program from his hip surgery and when he has completed that and he feels as though he is 100 per cent fit, he’ll play at that stage. We’ll just see how that goes.”

Josh Corbett celebrates a goal for the Suns. Picture: Bradley Kanaris/Getty Images

After two consecutive grand final defeats the signing of Corbett boosts the Swans’ flag hopes, giving South Barwon an unstoppable forward line that could feature Corbett, Mathieson medallists Fraser Fort and Matt Caldow, and potentially Brown.

But the process-driven Neeld wouldn’t buy into to hype.

“We know that our squad is developing, we know the majority of them are quite young in their footy career,” Neeld said.

“We are enjoying what we are doing, we enjoy spending time together. When we’re together we are going to work really hard and we’ll see how we go, but we’re really, really pleased that Josh has decided to join us.”

Originally published as South Barwon signs former Fremantle forward Josh Corbett as Nathan Brown a ‘strong chance’ to join Swans