The Seagulls' signings for 2024 include Rebecca Mitchell (Panmure), Stacy Dunkley (Russells Creek) and Jemmah Lambevski (Old Collegians), who were all playing-coaches in the Warrnambool and District league last year.

Talented shooter Emma Stacey has also crossed to the club after serving as captain and assistant coach of WDFNL side Allansford in 2023.

Arundell, who joined the Seagulls after leading Nirranda to back-to-back flags in the WDFNL, has enjoyed working with the new additions across the pre-season.

"It's great because I can draw all that wealth of knowledge from them and that experience they bring to our court which is fantastic," she told The Standard.

"They're leaders in themselves, they bring their own level of intensity to the training and practice matches and professionalism, so I don't have to worry about any of that."

Arundell said she had been welcomed into her new environment and was finding the challenge "a lot of fun so far".

She noted the side had undergone extensive personnel change after a challenging 2023 season which saw the Seagulls finish 10^th.

"Numbers are fantastic," she said.

"We only have one player that played in the open team last year, so completely new team, completely new combinations and relationships to build on but having said that we didn't lose anyone as such.

"There's a couple of girls who haven't returned, through university commitments and things like that. We're looking at our junior development program and focusing really heavy on that because there's some great depth in the juniors."

Accustomed to contending for silverware, Arundell hasn't set any lofty goals for her new outfit just yet.

Instead, she is focused on building chemistry between players and creating a strong culture.

"Obviously they're coming off a couple of seasons that didn't track so well for them so that's front and foremost in our mind, to try and change that around without setting too many targets for them at the moment," she said.

"We're just still working on creating that foundation and getting that solid base so that we go on from that and create those good combinations.

"Club ethos, that's another thing that's high on our list as well."