Having personally expected to be little more than "decent," the 27-year-old Olympic gold medalist emerged from her maiden NRLW campaign as arguably the best player in the game.

The famously humble Bulli product would never describe herself as such, but there were no doubt plenty of NRLW suitors who saw her that way. It makes securing her return a major coup for the club and coach Jamie Soward.

"I'm a Wollongong girl and I wanted to be at a club where I knew I'd be playing my best footy," Tonegato said.

"I know that's the Dragons for me and I'm super happy to be back. It was always my first preference.

"It's where I'm comfortable, it's where I knew all the girls and work and family was a big part of the puzzle. Those were all the big draw-cards for me.

"Obviously we'd love to go one better, we've been able to retain most of the squad and we'll be hungry for sure."

It come as the former Australian Rugby 7s star prepares to make her State of Origin debut for NSW in Canberra on Friday.

It's a position she, perhaps modestly, didn't expect to find herself so soon after a decade away from the 13-a-side game.

"I'm a one-step-at-a-time kind of girl so I really was just focused on NRLW, I didn't want to look too far ahead," she said.

"I didn't play any club footy before NRLW or anything like that so I just wanted to see how I'd go. I'd been out of the game so long so I wasn't sure exactly where I'd sit in relation to everybody else.

"People started mentioning Origin and that sort of stuff but I was just focused on the [NRLW] grand final and I'd re-assess after that.

"I've always had confidence in my ability so I knew I'd be decent, up there, but probably not to this extent. I thought I might get to this point in a few seasons or maybe after the [2022] season.

"I was just really focused on that season but when I got that call from [NSW coach] Kylie [Hilder] that was something really special."

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Tonegato will be one of the few players in either squad for whom Friday's clash in Canberra is not the biggest stage they've featured on, but she's expecting the game to take her somewhere she's never been.

"Everyone I've spoken to has said it's the absolute hardest game they've ever played, it's the best quality you can get," she said.

"It's pretty inspiring to be training alongside everyone and they're all awesome, they're so good, they're so sure about what their role is.

"That was the first thing I noticed when I came into camp. I just thought 'whoah, this is really high level'. I know it's going to be really tough but I'm really excited to get out there.

"I'm focusing on my performance and makings sure I prepare the best I can and I'm sure all the energy and everything you get from playing on that stage will come through."

There'll be no more interested spectator than Dragons coach Soward having secured the signature of his trump card.

"Anytime you get a Dally M medallist wanting to come back it's a huge boost," Soward said.

"We were very confident that Emma would re-sign. We just needed to give her some time to make that decision.

"It's a reflection of the culture our players and staff have built to have players of this calibre wanting to stay at the club."

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