Matt Fuller says he has "unfinished business" ahead of a surprise off-season move from Orange United Warriors to Peak Hill Roosters.
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Fuller has been a mainstay of the Warriors side in recent Woodbridge Cup seasons but is set to make the move to the Roosters, where he made his first grade debut in 2012.
Peak Hill lost the grand final to Eugowra Golden Eagles the same year and Fuller said it added some extra motivation to a move he had already been weighing up before the call came through.
"I've got a bit of unfinished business out there," he said.
"Playing that one year and making the grand final, I don't think Peak Hill has made another grand final since so it will be good to go back out there and give back.
"I just had a general conversation with a few of the boys who play out there and I thought it may be time for a bit of a change.
"I ended up bumping into [coach] Daniel Thornton and he said they'd love to have me out there and mentioned they were going through a bit of a rebuild as well.
"I'm pretty close with a lot of the team being a Dubbo boy myself so it wasn't hard for me to make a decision."
There and back again
Fuller, who has played both as a fullback and a half, joined Warriors in 2020 following stints with Cargo Blue Heelers, Peak Hill, Blayney Bears and time with Orange Hawks, CYMS and Cabonne United as a junior.
He said he was looking forward to taking on extra responsibility at Lindner Oval in 2024.
"I just felt like I needed a bit of a change, it's nothing against the Warriors boys," he said.
"But with those boys [Peak Hill] going through a bit of a rebuild at the moment I wanted to challenge myself.
"They were looking for a guy to lead the team around and they reached out and thought I could be the guy to do that.
"It wasn't a hard decision."
Putting in the work
Fuller said 2023 was the best he'd felt both on and off the field, scoring nine tries as Orange made it into week two of the finals.
He credits some lifestyle changes, adopting healthier habits and bulking up as key reasons behind this transformation.
"Last year I probably got myself into the best shape I'd ever been in," he said.
"I was the fittest and biggest I've ever been. I changed my whole lifestyle around to better myself.
"I changed my whole mentality and lifestyle and last year I felt I made the most progression in my footy career and that's because I made those changes in my life.
"That showed on the footy field. I felt like more of a leader and the boys were a bit more dependent on me to stand up.
"Once I noticed that there was no looking back."
