Fuller, who plays in the ruck, impressed in her VFLW debut season for Geelong this year. It was the first time she had played footy for years as basketball had been her major focus.

She was promoted to the Cats' AFLW list with a pre-draft mature age selection in July. The AFLW season is being played in January and February.

On the basketball front Fuller has switched from Bellarine Storm. She played against the Mermaids in division one this year.

It comes after the Warrnambool side landed Kelle Hillas from Ballarat Miners last week.

Coach Lee Primmer is excited about what Fuller will bring to the line-up after watching her dominate the Mermaids during the first quarter of a game earlier this year.

"I saw her athleticism first-hand and how good she was," he said.

He decided to have a chat with her after the game and got the ball rolling on the idea of her joining the Mermaids.

The connection was already there as Primmer's daughter, Courtney Thompson, played A grade netball with Fuller at Corio in 2019.

Fuller said they bonded over basketball as Thompson is a former Mermaid.

In another boon for the Mermaids, Thompson - who currently coaches Surf Coast Chargers in the Country Basketball League - has jumped on board as a Mermaids assistant coach in 2022.

Primmer is thrilled as he'll have his daughter as well as Louise Brown as assistants next year.

The head coach said Geelong-based Fuller would travel to play most games of next season.

Fuller grew up at Millicent and played years of representative basketball against Warrnambool.

The 22-year-old said there were numerous reasons why she decided to join the Mermaids, including her friendship with Thompson.

"Obviously them being flexible around my football really contributed to the decision," she said.

"We caught up a couple of times and had a chat about how it's going to look for me and I'm happy with the overall outcome."

Fuller said Primmer's traditional coaching style stood out to her.

She said his emphasis on hard work and hard running was similar to that of her long-time coach Peter Seebohm at Millicent.

The recruit prefers to play bigger than her height and is generally a centre power-forward.

She is keen to learn from experienced Mermaids such as Amy Wormald and help develop the group's youngsters.

Fuller highlighted she was excited to be among the supportive culture Warrnambool basketball has to offer.

She added footy and basketball complemented each other.

The multi-talented athlete explained footy had helped her in her will to compete for the basketball.

On the flip side, basketball has helped with her agility on the footy field.