Matildas midfielder Chloe Logarzo has signed for A-League Women newcomers Western United in a bid to bolster her playing minutes ahead of the Women's World Cup
Logarzo, 27, ruptured her ACL in a friendly against Ireland last September and is fit to play, but has had limited playing minutes for NWSL club Kansas City Current since returning.
The Sydneysider had promised to return to Sydney FC one day when she departed the ALW.
But injuries change things, and Logarzo deliberately made the "extremely hard" decision not to head to NSW as she wanted to focus on football, without the distraction of being close to family and friends.
Instead, she signed a three-month loan deal with United, a coup for the expansion club, that starts November 1.
"After doing my knee it was vitally important that I come home and play minutes," Logarzo told AAP.
"Since I did my knee. I have literally changed my whole life to make sure that I'll be ready for the World Cup at home next year.
"So that's heavily weighed in to me going to Melbourne.
"I love my family dearly but I also think that my family could have been a distraction to me coming home and I would love to be around them and spend a lot of time (with them).
"I want to focus on my football."
Logarzo hasn't touched alcohol in more than a year, or gone out partying, with the odd cafe excursion as wild as it gets in a life full of training and injury rehabilitation.
"I'm on this path, and this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to have a World Cup at home," she said.
"I want to make sure I'm doing it right so that if anything was to happen that I know deep down I've done everything that I can."
Helping the decision to pick United was a quick connection with coach Mark Torcaso, and his eagerness to get Logarzo back firing in the Matildas' set-up.
United's inaugural squad to date largely features young up-and-comers or NPLW stalwarts, but hard-running Logarzo backed them to trouble established clubs.
"This is a brand new opportunity, a fresh club with big ambitions," she said.
"I know I'll be able to run a lot in this team. So for me on field, that was a big winner.
"If we come in with this inaugural season, and we say 'let's be the hardest working team in the league', we will shock so many teams by the work ethic that we have.
"To me it outweighs anything else. It's hard to beat a team who wants to continue to run."
