Dragons Taliah Fuimaono caps stunning rise with Jillaroos World Cup selection

"We all knew there were calls to be made [Tuesday] morning but I honestly assumed I wasn't going to get the call because I hadn't heard anything, I wasn't in the loop, I didn't really know anything," Fuimaono told the Mercury.

"Holli Wheeler texted me and it said 'we're going to f---ing England'. I hadn't even got a phone call yet but then two minutes later I got the call. I was already in tears so I could barely speak when I answered the phone.

"It hasn't quite sunk in yet, it's unbelievable. We're meeting up [on Thursday] and that'll probably make it feel a bit more real, but it's massive for me and my family."

It caps a remarkable 12 months on the comeback trail from injuries that almost ended her elite career before it began, with the now 23-year-old suffering an ACL tear and two shoulder reconstructions prior to her 21^st birthday.

Read more: Davis eager to re-ignite Test career as Tonegato cops Jillaroos snub

It was after the second shoulder surgery that a no doubt well-meaning surgeon advised her to hang the boots up. The irony of that conversation wasn't lost on her after receiving the Test call-up on Tuesday.

"The first thing I said to mum was that I could remember sitting in that room with the surgeon who told me 'you don't play for Australia, you don't make $80,000 a year, you should consider another career'," she said.

"If I'm ever making $80,000 I might go back to him. It doesn't feel that long ago that I was having surgery and I wasn't sure where I was going to end up, so it's been a long journey to get where I am and it's really emotional one for me."

The Indigenous All-Star was a selection bolter for Brad Donald, who has since added Dragons pair Emma Tonegato and Shaylee Bent to his squad following the withdrawal of Newcastle duo Millie Boyle and Tamika Upton.

Premiership-winning halves pair Jesse Southwell and Kirra Dibb couldn't crack the squad in a stacked field of halves.

Having played all but a 10-minute stint in the sin-bin in the No. 6 for the Dragons last NRLW season, it was a pack Fuimaono could well have been lost in had coach Jamie Soward not opted to draw on her utility value through the recently completed campaign.

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It saw her shift through the halves, centres and back-row where she was arguably her side's best performed player. It's no doubt what appealed to Donald and Jillaroos selectors, though the St Clair Comets product said the new role was a curveball.

"It was all unexpected," she said. "My ideal [scenario] was to play six and really develop my game there but, just the way the season panned out and with the players we had, Sowie thought he'd take a risk and see how it went.

"I'm happy that I put the team first and that I did my best in the roles I was put in. I still feel like we didn't get to where we wanted to be and I think we had a team that could've produced a lot more than we showed, but I do believe I did what I could in the positions I moved to.

"Even though I would've liked to play a bit more six and I still have a lot more development to come there, I think playing those other positions could help me as a six as well so I can't complain.

"It could have had disadvantages and advantages but it may have given me the opportunity to go to England in a few weeks.

"I think that potentially made [selectors'] decision a little bit easier because I couldn't imagine being the position of choosing 25 players out of our competition because the talent's insane. I think that versatility that Sowie exposed in me definitely helped."

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