She's been aspiring to it for as long as she can remember, but for Brooke McKinnon the reality of realising her dream of playing elite level football hasn't fully sunk in yet.
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Three days on from learning she had made the NSW Waratahs squad for their 2023 Super W campaign, the Bingara teenager admits it still "doesn't seem real".
"Obviously I am stoked to be named in the squad," McKinnon said via text on her way to the airport before flying out to New Zealand with the Waratahs for their pre-season tour.
"I'm so excited to get the opportunity to play alongside some of the best in the game and grow as a player."
The chance to play top level football is something the 18-year-old has long been dreaming of, and even switched codes in pursuit of.
From "a league family", she played league until her early teens.
But, with girls from then only allowed to play league tag and no real pathway she thought she'd give rugby a try and so went along to the Central North trials.
She hasn't "looked back".
The Waratahs squad was officially announced on Tuesday but the players learnt on Sunday.
After nervously waiting all day to hear, "so exhausted" after their trip to Narrabri McKinnon said she had actually fallen asleep and was awoken by the call from coach Campbell Aitken.
"I saw his name pop up and was so nervous to answer it," she said.
"I had instant butterflies because I didn't know what to expect."
Upon hearing that she had made the squad, all she could get out was 'thankyou'.
Naturally, she rang her parents straight away. Without their support, and sacrifices the past four years, she said, she wouldn't "be the person I am or where I am".
Initially they didn't answer.
"When they rang me back I didn't even say hello to them, I was just like 'I made it'," McKinnon said.
"There was nothing on the end of the phone other than the sound of my mum in tears."
Picked in the halves, her selection comes on the back of a whirlwind last few months.
The day after she graduated, she virtually moved down to Sydney to start training with the pre-season squad.
Being one of the youngest players in the squad, while hopeful she was just grateful "to have this amazing opportunity".
"I just turned up to training and tried my best each time," she said.
The final 32 was confirmed following Saturday's trial against the Reds, which was for McKinnon a "special" and memorable experience.
"Words can't describe how surreal the feeling was running out in the Tahs jersey," she said post-match.
Even more so to do it on what was her home ground last season, linking up with the Blue Boars after Inverell were unable to field a side.
She was excited for the tour, which will see the Waratahs play the Blues and Chiefs on Friday night.
"We've trained super hard towards it and obviously we want to win our trial games but I'm just excited to be here with the girls and soak up everything," McKinnon said.
It will be her second trip to New Zealand in the space of a couple of months after playing at the World Schools 7s in December.
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