She lasted just six minutes in the Holden Women's State of Origin clash last year and now Corban McGregor has declared her anguish will be her biggest motivation as she prepares for a bigger and better 2019 season.
McGregor suffered a season-ending shoulder injury in NSW's 16-10 victory over Queensland last July after an attempted tackle on fullback Chelsea Baker.
The timing couldn't have been worse for the elusive outside-back who was preparing for a historic season with the Sydney Roosters in the inaugural NRLW competition.
"I think just looking at how well the NRLW comp was and how well the Jillaroos went in the Test match last year," McGregor told NSWRL.com.au,
"I knew I wanted to come back bigger and better.
"I think every year you're always motivated to be better but there is something about being injured and having this big comeback that makes you motivated to be even bigger and more special."
While McGregor missed the opportunity to be part of the on-field success of the NRLW competition her inclusion amongst the "Roosters family" proved to be the silver lining.
She admitted the frustration of her injury was initially hard to deal with but her positive outlook and the support network around her helped her through.
"Not being able to do anything for a few weeks, it was kind of rough, especially when you're used to training a couple of times a day," McGregor said.
"Physically it's a bit of a strange feeling – not being able to train whenever you want, because this is the first major injury that I've had so it's not fun but I was just lucky to have good support (around me)."
McGregor was one of 15 marquee signings made by the Roosters in the lead-up to the NRLW season and her absence has her determined to make 2019 a year to remember.
While the ultimate goal is to don the sky-blue jersey once again and build on her seven appearances for the Jillaroos, McGregor is solely focused on starting the year strong with the Cronulla-Caringbah Sharks in the Harvey Norman NSW Women's Premiership.
"My focus at the moment is playing really good club footy, we've been in pre-season for the Cronulla (Caringbah) Sharks so I'm just really keen to play injury free footy and play week in and week out," she said.
"Then the big, fun stuff at the end of the year will be the icing on the cake for me."
