The Collingwood Football Club has strengthened its Academy Program with the arrival of Western Bulldogs premiership player Matthew Boyd in the role of Development Coach.

The former Bulldogs skipper recently called time on a 292-game career which included a premiership, three All Australian honours and three club best and fairests.

Collingwood General Manager of Football Geoff Walsh said Boyd brings a number of desired characteristics to the role.

“Matthew built his reputation as one of the competition’s elite players through hard work, resilience and great leadership. These are all qualities we want to impart on our younger players coming through,” Walsh said.

“To have fought his way onto a rookie list and end up with close to 300 AFL games and a premiership shows a huge appetite for continued personal growth and development and we think those attributes will really strengthen our Academy program.”

Boyd’s arrival is the first of many new appointments to be made to Collingwood’s football program for 2018 and beyond.

Nathan Buckley will lead the club’s coaching panel as senior coach, supported by assistant coaches Robert Harvey and Brenton Sanderson.

Boyd will work closely with fellow Academy coaches Tarkyn Lockyer and Brad Gotch, while also working with VFL coach Jared Rivers as a line coach for the VFL program.