No more pain for recalled Harden
QUEENSLANDER 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 rugby 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 suffered a setback just one month after her Jillaroos debut, when she broke and dislocated her ankle.
She did not 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.
“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.”
Jillaroos Commonwealth Championships team:
Nakia Davis- Welsh, Karina Brown, Corban McGregor, Isabelle Kelly, Chelsea Baker, Ali Brigginshaw, Maddie Studdon, Vanessa Foliaki, Brittany Breayley, Simaima Taufa, Talesha Quinn, Annette Brander, Zahara Temara, Rikeya Horne, Tallisha Harden