HANNAH Southwell's World Cup ambitions hinge on a knee injury suffered during what was a historic occasion for the Newcastle Knights.
Southwell was awaiting scan results and final diagnosis on Monday, having been described as an "absolute warrior" by Knights coach Ron Griffiths following Newcastle's first ever NRLW win.
Leading out the Knights as co-captain and lining up alongside sister Jesse, the youngest NRLW debutante aged just 17, Southwell's night took an unexpected turn which now casts doubt on her immediate playing future.
Club officials are hoping for the best but fearing for the worst, as they prepare to name Newcastle's team for round two on Tuesday.
Concerns mainly centre around potential ACL damage, which could see the NSW and Australian representative sidelined for an extended period of time.
A less severe prognosis may see the lock rejoin the current NRLW campaign at some stage and continue pushing for Jillaroos selection at the end-of-year World Cup in England (October 15-November 19).
Either way, it wasn't what Southwell had planned at McDonald Jones Stadium on Sunday.
The 23-year-old from Cameron Park, who signed for the Knights this season fresh from claiming an NRLW premiership with the Sydney Roosters, went down midway through the first half after attempting to step off her right leg prior to the defensive line.
Southwell stayed on the field until being substituted in the 33rd minute and didn't return, watching on as the Knights defeated three-time champions the Brisbane Broncos.
While unsure about the extent of the injury straight after the season opener in Newcastle, mentor Griffiths spoke about Southwell's character.
"She's got to see a specialist tomorrow [Monday], get some scans and go from there. That's probably all the information we can give you because we don't really know," Griffiths said in the post-match press conference.
"What I would say, it's a testament to her toughness. She's out there for the first 15 minutes, hurts herself and stays there until before half-time. An absolute warrior.
"Hannah epitomises what Newcastle, hard working, blue collar, rugby league players are about. We've seen that tonight and we've seen that over the first four or five weeks of our training campaign."
It proved a bittersweet affair for the Southwell family.
Hannah's younger sibling Jesse, fresh from a Commonwealth Games gold medal, starred on the senior stage after recently being granted an exemption to play NRLW despite not being 18.
The teenage rookie, wearing the No.7 jersey and matching up against experienced campaigner Ali Brigginshaw, opened the scoring in a 32-14 result.
"It was amazing. I'm still kind of pinching myself wondering how I got here," Jesse told Knights media after full-time.
Newcastle co-captain Millie Boyle said the victory was "really special".
