Fast forward six months and she’s now on that of Jillaroos coach Brad Donald who selected the 21-year-old in his Prime Minister’s XIII line-up for next weekend’s clash with PNG in Port Moresby.

It caps a rapid rise for the 21-year-old, whose standout performances for Southern Region were enough to earn a maiden Country jumper for June’s national championships. A Dragons NRLW contract followed with a stellar debut season putting her in the frame for Jillaroos selection. 

It’s something that was entirely unexpected for the former soccer star who had set the modest goal of just making an NRLW debut.

“It was really exciting to get the call on Monday telling me I’d made the squad,” Tungai said.

“It’s something I definitely didn’t expect to happen, it was a really big shock. When I found out the Dragons had a license to field a women’s team I was just grateful to get selected for that.

“I was excited to make the Illawarra side and then Southern Country and I wasn’t thinking much beyond that. To go from there to this is just awesome.”

It’s certainly made the tough decision to give up the round-ball game worth it, though she admits it was a difficult call to, at least momentarily, end a promising career that saw her grab four straight golden boot awards and lead Albion Park to three straight Illawarra premierships from 2014-16.

She was also awarded the Kyah Simon Medal as player of the tournament at the 2016 National Indigenous Championships before focusing solely on rugby league this season.

It saw her bag 10 tries and kick 26 goals enough to claim the Illawarra Women’s League player of the year gong in an outstanding season with Avondale in which she led the Greyhounds to within one win of the grand final.

“It was a really tough decision to make because I’d played soccer for the majority of my life,” she said.

“To make this switch was a hard one but just focusing on football this year was one of the greatest decision I’ve ever made I think.”

Tungai forms part of a youthful line-up that includes fellow Illawarra and Dragons standouts Rikeya Horne, who’ll play fullback, and Keeley Davis who was selected in the No. 6 jumper.

It puts the Illawarra’s youth brigade well in the frame for test selection in future, something Tungai admits is now a burning ambition. 

“Definitely, it’s something I’m working towards and hopefully one day I get to be a part of the Jillaroos,” she said.