West Coast has pulled off a major coup upon signing international rugby star Mhicca Carter to its inaugural AFLW list.

Carter has been a member of Australia’s female rugby team, the Wallaroos, for the past two years and recently represented the national team in a two test series against the New Zealand Black Ferns.

The dynamic full back – who also captained Rugby WA’s Super W team – possesses a big tank, good spatial awareness and has speed to burn.

Eagles head of female football Adam Selwood was confident Carter could transition her unique athletic attributes to AFLW.

“It’s fantastic for Mhicca to join the club,” Selwood said.

“Her background with rugby and playing at such a high level with the Australian Wallaroos and Rugby WA, her professional standards are just going to rub off on a lot of our players in the group and I think her skills will transition really well.

“She’s got a solid kick, she tackles, she’s fit and she’s hungry. At her age, at 29, it gives us a great opportunity to provide her a really strong career and we will explore what she can provide for the team and how she can fit into the squad.”

Carter said she could not wait to test her skills in the AFLW arena.

“I never really saw this coming, so this is a huge privilege and I’m really excited to be joining the team,” she said.

“I think the transition is going to be really challenging, but really exciting for me as well.

“I’m going to be working alongside Adam (Selwood) for the next couple of months to get my skills to where they need to be and then I guess we’ll hit the floor running on November 1.

“I’m just looking forward to preparing for the new season and hopefully surprising myself at how quickly I can pick up the game.”

Carter is the third alternate sport rookie to join West Coast after Gaelic football talents Niamh and Grace Kelly signed with the club in May.

The Irish duo are expected to arrive in Perth in October following the recent completion of the All Ladies Senior Football Championship.

Selwood expected the trio to add another dimension to the Eagles’ AFLW squad.

“Our alternate sport rookies in a rugby player and two Gaelic (football) players will provide us with a lot of speed and, I guess, a bit of the unknown,” he said.

“They are coming from a background where they know their sport really well, but to transition their talents into our game, there are some key attributes that we really like.

“It’s going to be exciting for our fans and our club.”