Simaima Taufa can laugh about it now. Getting older, she thought, and wondering what she wanted to do about rugby league.
The body still feels good, and the 28-year-old international is still by far and away one of the NRLW's premier middle forwards - so when Don Furner came calling, she was always going to listen.
The Canberra Raiders chief executive called Taufa while she was in York with the Australian team, en route to another World Cup triumph last year. A new version of the Green Machine was being built, and they wanted Taufa in the engine room.