Australian great Mo’onia Gerrard is coming out of retirement to represent Tonga at their inaugural netball World Cup appearance.
The 42-year-old defender is one of 15 players named for the Tonga Tala to travel to Cape Town to take on the world’s best starting last July.
It means the ex-Diamond will come up against her former side, with Tonga drawn in the same pool as 11-time world champions Australia.
Gerrard last played top level netball a decade ago, finishing up with the NSW Swifts back in 2013.
She’s a two-time netball world champion, winning gold with Australia back at the Singapore and Auckland world cups in 2011 and 2007.
Gerrard was also part of Australia’s silver medal winning squad at the 2010 Delhi Commonwealth Games.
She played 68 Test caps for Australia and more than 150 domestic matches.
Since retiring, she’s gone on to coach and most recently was appointed to the Netball Australia board in March.
Gerrard is joined in the Tala squad by former Silver Ferns goal shooter Cathrine Tuivaiti, who has been playing at the Gold Coast Titans in Australia this year.
The 36-year-old shared her Tongan selection on social media, labelling it “a blessing”.
“Oop. Not quite done yet. An honour. A blessing. And one hell of a challenge,” she posted.
And she found plenty of support in her return to the top level from netball rivals including the likes of Helen Housby, Shimona Nelson and Shadine van der Merwe.
Also included in the Tala squad is Hulita Veve, the mother of two replacement midcourter at the Queensland Firebirds who has made three appearances this Super Netball season.
Current NSW Swifts injury replacement defender Kelea Iongi is also in the squad, having played three games under coach Briony Akle.
Uneeq Palavi, who represented Collingwood in the pre-season Team Girls Cup earlier this year, is another player for fans to watch.
Tonga had earned their way into the 2023 World Cup by going through the Oceania Netball World Cup Qualifiers undefeated last year – against the likes of Fiji, Samoa, Cook Islands and Papua New Guinea.
The nation will head into the World Cup currently ranked number seven in the world, ahead of the likes of Wales, Scotland and Trinidad and Tobago.
It’s the first time in Tongan history that the nation has made it to the final pool stage at a world cup, after previously taking part in the 1999 preliminary rounds in Christchurch.