The Burras have secured Lee Cox in a boom recruiting coup that will see the champion forward return to the club for the second half of season 2017.

Cox, a three-time premiership player with Hepburn, has been cleared from Tooleybuc-Manangatang just ahead of the statewide June 30 cut-off.

The prolific goal-kicker is likely to line-up for the Burras in this weekend’s round 11 clash with Rokewood-Corindhap.

Hepburn coach Jason Olver said Cox, who has been regularly training with the Burras this season, had been expected to return to the club if the senior side was travelling well at the mid-point of the year.

The Burras are one of the form teams of the competition, with last weekend’s victory over Waubra lifting it to fourth spot on the ladder.

That result was the team’s seventh win in succession, and with a run of games against opponents placed low on the ladder, it looks destined for a double chance in finals.

Olver said Cox was one of the great players in the league’s history.

“In my time, as a key forward he is on a par with (Clunes great) Owen Weatherly,” Olver told The Courier.

“Without him, we wouldn’t have won some of the premierships we have over the years.

“He’d be in the top two or three most popular blokes we’ve had that I’ve seen pull on a Hepburn jumper.”

Cox first played with Tooleybuc-Manangatang in 2014 before returning to Hepburn for the 2015 and 2016 campaigns. He returned to the Central Murray league side this season, but has played just three senior matches.