The chance to lead Australia's gold medal defence at the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games is a "huge dangling carrot" set to push Laura Geitz back into netball after her first baby.
The Australian Diamonds and Queensland Firebirds captain is due to become a mother in March next year, prompting questions about whether she could return to the national team in time for the 2018 Games.
Geitz, 29, was on Friday announced as the fifth ambassador for the event and said watching her teammates sing the national anthem at the Constellation Cup in October gave her "itchy feet".
"If I am in a position to come back and play I would absolutely love that," she said in Brisbane.
"It gives me some time to get back into shape and hopefully be in a position to be selected."
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Geitz predicted the biggest challenge, other than learning the ropes as a new parent, would be to ensure she quickly returned to the form that has made her the premier goal-keeper in the game.
"But who wouldn't want to represent Australia in their own backyard in somewhere like the Gold Coast?" she said.
"That is just a huge carrot dangling for me. We'll see how we go."
Geitz joins hurdler Sally Pearson, swimmer Cam McEvoy, cyclist Anna Meares and Paralympian Kurt Fearnley in the ambassador team to promote the games.
She described netball as "a sleeping giant" of Australian sport that was being awoken.
But she felt women's sport in general had gained momentum through current athletes growing up with role models like swimmers Susie O'Neill and Samantha Riley.
The Gold Coast Games represents the chance for Australian netballers to go back-to-back after breaking a 14-year dry spell at Glasgow in 2014 with victory over New Zealand.
"It's just going to be the most amazing spectacle," Geitz said.
