The 29-year-old Port Macquarie product was named in the team after an impressive showing at last weekend’s NSW Country Rugby Women’s Championships at Forster.

What is most impressive is that it was her first game of rugby in six years after she suffered a torn anterior cruciate ligament in her right knee.

Despite the setbacks that followed, Gillogly never thought about giving the game away.

“I had major complications after the ACL injury at a national seven-a-side tournament and had to have seven operations to get it right,” she said.

“Then I made the New South Wales seven-a-side team two years ago then I suffered a torn meniscus in the same knee which put me out for another period of time.”

She has previously made the Australian team in the seven-a-side format in 2012, but admitted the recent mental battle was a challenge.

“In all those years it was a mental battle, but when I grew up in Port I was active all the time so I just wanted to get back out there,” she said.

“I missed playing and didn’t even care what I had to do to get back, I just wanted to be able to play.”

She said the injury had a subconscious effect on her body.

“The injury is always in the back of my mind and after every game I’ve always got a lot more scratches and bruises on the left hand side of my body,” she said.

“I try to protect my knee as best I can.”

Gillogly joins Wauchope Thunder duo Kathleen Ostler and Kitiara Porter in the Corellas team for the May 12-14 tournament on the Gold Coast.

“I was so lucky to be selected in the Mid North Coast team because I just wanted to have a game and I contacted someone from the team and they had a spot for me,” she said.

“Even though we’re from the same area, I didn’t know any of the girls who were in the team, but they were just so welcoming and I loved the atmosphere.

“No-one thought they were any better than anyone else.”

Ostler was named player of the tournament, while 17-year-old Porter enjoyed her first experience playing at a representative level.

The teenager admitted it was a surprise to be chosen for the Corellas.

“It was a big thing and being only 17, I didn’t think this would happen,” Porter said.

The teenager has the added bonus of being alongside her older sister.

“I didn’t feel I played to the best of my abilities,” she said.

“They must have seen something in me and when my older sister was named in the side, that was the cherry on top.”