Kennedy Cherrington got the call-up that she would be pulling on green and gold as a Jillaroo, the day after playing in the NRLW grand final.
The 23-year-old has represented the country before, in rugby 7s and in the Wallaroos A squad, but being a Jillaroo is a lifelong dream.
"I've always wanted to be a Jillaroo ever since I was little, I started playing rugby league when I was 10," she said.
Training on the Gold Coast before heading to the World Cup, Cherrington is fit and healthy.
But she doesn't take her health for granted — Cherrington was born with a congenital heart defect
"Mitral regurgitation, so my valves weren't connected to my heart wall properly so oxygenated blood wasn't delivered to the rest of my blood properly," she said.
"I had life-saving open heart surgery when I was eight."
My first love, rugby league
Cherrington turned to junior rugby league in Western Australia as soon as she was well enough in her recovery.
"I got cleared for footy when I was 10, that's when mum and dad gave me the green light to play," she said.
"Ripped in ever since and carved up all the boys."
In her late teens, Cherrington moved to Sydney to pursue opportunities in rugby union.
After several years playing rugby 7s and with the Waratahs, she made the jump back to rugby league, playing for the Sydney Roosters and most recently, the Parramatta Eels.
"I fell in love with the game again; the love has always been there — my first love — [and] I wanted to go back to my roots," she said.
"My older cousins, my brother all player league; it's kind of in the family."
"I'm the first girl to come through the pathway. If I can be that person for my family and the next generation to come, for me, representation is everything."
Veronica White Medal winner
Cherrington has used her platform to help Heartkids, the charity that help her when she was younger.
"I just feels right," she said.
"As soon as I built the platform that I did back in 2020, I reached out to them and said, I'd love to help, I've got a platform, I'm a 'Heartkid' myself."
Her contribution, both on and off the field, has been recognised with this year's Veronica White Medal for NRLW Woman of the Year.
She split the prize money between her junior club the Rockingham Sharks, HeartKids and the NRL WA Pathways for females.
"I'm really pushing for that 18th (NRL) team to Western Australia or a representative of the unaffiliated states, NT, South Australia, Tasmania and Western Australia — with that comes the expansion of female sport," she said.
"All the women over there just want to play footy. Everyone's just keen to get involved.
"That's going to be me, I'm going to be that voice, that push, that motive for where I came from, back in Perth."
