THREE-time Geelong premiership defender Corey Enright says he will almost certainly retire at the end of the 2015 season.

Enright has been one of the greats of the Cats' golden era under coaches Mark Thompson and Chris Scott, playing in all three of the Cats' recent premierships (2007, 2009 and 2011) and winning the club's best and fairest award in the latter two flag-winning seasons.

The 33-year-old told SEN radio on Tuesday morning that he was approaching this season all but convinced it would be his last.

"I'm going into it thinking that way. Unless circumstances change extraordinarily I would think that this would be my last year," Enright said.

The South Australian said this year's pre-season – his 17th since the Cats selected him at pick No. 47 in the 1999 national draft – had been a little easier to get through mentally knowing it was likely to be his last.

"I sort of went in with a pretty clear mind that whatever came across this year I would just try to embrace it and enjoy it," Enright said.

"It could be the last time that you do a lot of these things, so for me it was quite refreshing. I was just going out there trying to enjoy it as much as I can.

"It's hard to enjoy it when you're slogging out running laps but I went in with that mindset, which probably helped."

Geelong announced on Monday that Enright would return to a streamlined five-man leadership group after a two-year absence.

Enright said he had stepped down from the leadership group so he could take a step back and enjoy the final few seasons of his career with leadership responsibilities.

But his mindset has changed with the end of his career now even closer.

"This year we went about it a different way and I had a good think about it and coming into probably my last year I wanted to really give back to the footy club that's given so much to me," Enright says.

Enright sits equal fourth on the Cats' all-time games table (288) and is well placed this year to become just the third Geelong player to play 300 games.

He is also a five-time All Australian (2008-11 and 2013).