McCulloch will run a coaching clinic on November 13 and 14 as she continues down the path as a coach after a knee injury ended her career in 2019.

So when the Port Macquarie club reached out to her, it made sense to head north to an area where previously she had only had a fleeting interaction with.

"We love giving back to the regional communities and we thought for sure we'll make the trip up and make a weekend of it," she told the Port News.

"We've done some stuff in the past with more western regional towns like Dubbo and Orange but never gone up the coast. It's an organic way for us to get in touch with various clubs around New South Wales."

Through her role as talent identification officer for Netball NSW, McCulloch is always on the lookout for the next up-and-coming star.

She says regional areas are just as important as their metropolitan counterparts.

"You never know where or when you might find the next big star or kid with a bit of potential and it's really important we cast our eyes wide and we are open to everyone," she said.

"You can't just focus on the city kids anymore."

The 31-year-old spent the best part of five years representing her state at the highest level of domestic netball in Australia.

She has some simple words of advice.

"I took a lot of knocks at the beginning of my career where people said I wasn't good enough or tall enough, or fit enough or fast enough," she said.

"But I kept persisting with it, kept coming back, kept working hard and it eventually paid off. Anyone can make it if they've got the work ethic to do it."

Her career was cut short two years ago when an MRI scan discovered damage to her tibia behind the knee which forced her off the court as a player and into a career as a coach.

"I wanted to play for a couple more years, but that's sport unfortunately," she said.

"Netball was always the thing I loved the most so it made sense for me after I retired to go into the education side of the thing I love most which is coaching netball.

"It all went hand in hand and worked out really well. It's what I do on a regular basis through my personal business and what I do for work so I'm really lucky."

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