Harden earns a reward

BURLEIGH’S Tallisha Harden will make a stunning return to the green and gold this week after she was named in the Jillaroos’ Commonwealth Championships team.

The league and rugby union star has not played at the international level since May 2015 but two years of hard work has seen her finally earn her recall for Australia, alongside a host of World Cup guns.

Harden’s rise to the top copped a setback just one month after her Jillaroos debut, when she broke and dislocated her ankle.

She didn’t return to rugby league until the 2016 All Stars match and then spent most of the season trying to find her confidence again.

It wasn’t until last year that she reached her best form and now she has been handed her reward.

But Harden said there were times when she did not know if she could ever make it back for Australia.

“I couldn’t run for a fair bit and I was a bit down mentally as well,” she said of her ankle injury.

“It was a real battle and I lost a lot of weight. I dropped 8kg (mostly muscle) and it’s taken me two years to put it back on.

“I couldn’t run or get into the gym because I was in a cast for so long ... With my body type as it is, I struggle to hold weight anyway.

“That was probably the hardest thing for me was trying to get stronger and fitter again after I did it.

“There were definitely moments over the last couple of years where I wasn’t too sure if I would ever get a chance (with Australia) again.

“But with more opportunities around now, I just knew if I worked hard enough it could happen.”

The back-rower’s return to form saw her skipper the Bears to their third title in the southeast Queensland women’s competition and claim the player of the match last season.

The Commonwealth Championships, to be played at Redcliffe’s Dolphin Stadium on Friday and Saturday, is the first major event on the women’s 2018 calendar, which will also include the first female NRL competition.