“I had a break due to financial reasons,” Shoulder said.

“You know how expensive it was getting to play reps and it was just getting ridiculous, I had a mortgage and I couldn’t afford to get injured because I lost money.

“Like when injured at work and on restricted duties you lose a couple of hundred dollars per fortnight, so I had the break,” she said.

Not only has Shoulders excelled on the field, but she’s now giving back to the local country rugby community in much the same manner her best friend Zarby did for the Penrith Shemus.

She didn’t realise her role until the NSW Country championships; to inspire the young girl under her tutelage onto bigger and better things in the future and possible Super W contracts in the not too distant future.

Marita on left, Sandra on the right who was captain of championship winning Illawarra team

In the same generation but a different sport is niece Caitlin Shoulders, who played for the Newcastle Knights in the Tarsha Gale Cup and the grand final against Cronulla earlier this year.

She revealed Caitlin has put her name forward for the rugby league talent identification day before the re-installed national women’s championships next weekend.

Whatever the future may hold, Shoulders will be back on the field for the NSW Police at the national police rugby union championships alongside her old Sydney teammates in Sandra Laughlin and Melinda Dunn.

All three will be vying for selection into the national police team which will play at the Police International championships in Hong Kong in 2019.