Woodbridge icon's match-winning performance after mid-season switch to boyhood club

His resume includes stints with Orange United Warriors, Cargo Blue Heelers, Blayney Bears, Orange Hawks and he even spent time with Cabonne Roos during his younger days.

The most recent change came ahead of the 2024 Woodbridge Cup season when the versatile back joined Peak Hill Roosters.

But eagle-eyed fans of the competition would have noticed something strange during the round six clash against the Trundle Boomers; that of a missing Fuller in the Roosters line-up.

It turns out, the absence wasn't a one-off, with Fuller confirming the reason why he made the "tough" decision to leave the club.

"Things worked out well, but the bloke who was going to drive me ended up moving so I had to come back into town," Fuller said.

"I loved my time out at Peak. I didn't end on bad terms out there. It was actually a very tough decision."

But one club's loss is another's gain.

Although Fuller had no plans on playing home games in Orange, that's exactly where he's landed for the rest of 2024.

An Orange CYMS junior with more than a few former teammates at the club from his Warriors days, in the end it was an easy decision of where his next landing spot would be.

"Those boys who were already at the club helped solidify coming back here," Fuller said on signing with the green and gold mid-season.

But more than anything, he wanted a place where he could compete for premierships straight away.

"Myself at Warriors we were always near the top of the table, out at Peak we were building something really special," Fuller added.

"I didn't want to go from being with contending sides to starting from scratch all over again.

"That doesn't take anything away from any other club around town. I'm 30 now, I didn't want to go to a club doing it tough and put my body through that."

Selected in the reserve grade side to take on Orange Hawks during their round five derby on May 26 at Wade Park, Fuller made an immediate impact.

After coming off the bench, he turned the game on its head and helped CYMS overcome an 18-6 deficit. This included the match-winning try towards the end of the game.

"That's what (CYMS coach) Sammy Hill wanted from me," Fuller said.

"He knows what I can bring to a team, I've got that spark about me. He wanted me to go out there and play that free-flowing footy. That's my style of footy.

"It's dry, it's warm, the track's quick and it suits me to a tee."

As for coming off the bench, Fuller said he "never expected" to walk into a starting spot and hoped if his play warranted it, that he would carve out a bigger role for himself in 2024.