Daniel Menzel has signed on with SANFL club Central District.
The former Geelong and Sydney forward will link up with brother Troy at the Bulldogs for the 2020 season.
Menzel, 28, was delisted by the Swans in November and with no AFL lifeline on the horizon, he has opted to return to the club he was drafted from a decade ago.
It is a major coup for Centrals who won just five games in 2019 to finish eighth on the SANFL ladder.
“We’re very, very happy indeed,” Bulldogs chief Kris Grant told The Advertiser.
“He’s pretty close with his family so once his AFL career finished, I had a gut feel he was always going to come home.
“He said if nothing came of the draft, he’d be in to see me Monday and that’s what happened.
“He made his mind up that he still wanted to play at the highest level.”
Menzel kicked 136 goals in 73 games for the Cats and a further seven goals in seven games for the Swans last season.
He will finally get the chance to play alongside 25-year-old brother Troy who returned to Elizabeth in 2019 after 44 games with Carlton and Adelaide and a one-season stint in the Adelaide Footy League.