Being a journalist and writing predominantly about women’s sport The Women’s Game as well as for Macleay College’s news site - Hatch - I’ve tried to detach from writing about trans women in sport issues.

I’d prefer not to be typecast as a journalist who only writes about LGBTIQ issues.

However, watching Hubbard’s own struggles on Monday with people from the island nation of Samoa questioning her legitimacy to compete made me sad and brought back vivid memories of my own personal battles as a transgender sportswoman over a decade ago.

Like Hubbard, my greatest challenge playing women’s rugby post-transition occurred when my transgender status became known to my club teammates and peers, many of whom were of Pacific Island heritage.

I was quickly ostracised and treated as a pariah, which led to a physical assault by seven Samoan and Tongan teammates, where my hands were held behind my back by one player, while six others rushed in and threw punches to my head a week before I represented Sydney at Rugby Australia’s national women’s rugby championships in 2005.

Some of those same players were my teammates in the Sydney team and it was no surprise at those nationals I struggled, as I was understandably not in a good headspace and I see parallels with Hubbard’s mindset being similar to my own.

The nervousness she displayed, where she appeared to be shaking like a leaf during her three lifts, was more than likely caused by questions asked about her validity to compete in female competitions.

She would have lifted those weights successfully many times in training, but the spotlight put on her with a blowtorch effect wouldn’t have enabled her to be in a good headspace, hence the struggle.

Added to her dilemma was the hormonal deficit her body is going into.