MELBOURNE list manager Tim Lamb has expressed his excitement to see where a high development ceiling and an outstanding state league track record takes Tom Fullarton in the red and blue.

The two-metre-tall ruck and forward kicked 30 goals from 18 VFL games in 2023 and gives the Demons some mature key-position depth ahead of the 2024 season.

“Tom we’ve been tracking for a fair while, his VFL form was quite outstanding,” Lamb says.

“Brisbane have a really talented list in the tall space and Tom just got stuck in the queue a little bit there.

“He was sort of on the fringes of that really strong Brisbane team that made the grand final and wasn’t able to quite get into the side.”

Melbourne fans won’t be unfamiliar with Fullarton’s work, with the former Lion having met the Demons on an AFL field previously.

“He played against us in finals the year before out on the ‘G where Brisbane knocked us off,” Lamb says.

“Obviously he’s come out of basketball and into a great program at the Lions so we think he’s got a lot of upside in that ruck and forward space.”

Fullarton’s basketball career took him to the Australian Institute of Sport and the NBL, where he plied his trade for the Brisbane Bullets and made his debut at just 17 years of age.

The Queensland native played eight matches across two seasons with the Bullets as well as representing the U19 Australian side, before joining the Lions as a Category B rookie recruit.

Fullarton played football for Queensland as a junior and made the 15 and Under All-Australian team in 2014.

The 24-year-old could still have further development in his reach, after only returning to football midway through the 2018 season.

“We’re really hopeful Tom’s got a lot of development in him," Lamb told AFL Trade Radio. 

“As the year sort of rolled on we thought we might need some backup in that area of the ground.”

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