Now her confidence and hunger are back, Stephanie Gilmore has come to Bells Beach on a world title mission.
She shares the tour rankings lead with fellow Australian Sally Fitzgibbons after winning the Roxy Pro event on the Gold Coast and finishing third last Saturday at Margaret River.
Gilmore has won six world titles - compatriot Layne Beachley holds the women's record of seven - and is a three-time Bells champion.
But the 29-year-old's most recent world title was 2014 - also the last time she won Bells.
And Snapper Rocks was also her first world surf league event win since 2014.
"This year something just kicked in," she said on Tuesday, the day before the Bells holding period starts.
"I was trying to convince myself for the last couple of years that the desire and hunger and all that was still there - maybe it wasn't, quite.
"You get to a point where you just don't like losing anymore and you really kick into gear."
Gilmore lost her semi-final at the Margaret River Pro to Fitzgibbons, who then beat reigning world champion and fellow Australian Tyler Wright in the final.
It means the Australian trio hold the top three rankings heading into Bells Beach.
Gilmore is determined to keep her strong early form rolling through Bells Beach and then the rest of the season.
"I feel really good ... just the confidence," she said.
"You try to build the confidence and use ways outside of surfing to feel confident.
"Then to actually, finally get an event win, it was exactly what I needed to feel like I can do it again and win a world title."
Fitzgibbons is the last Australian woman to ring the iconic bell trophy at Bells Beach, beating Gilmore in the 2012 final.
American Courtney Conlogue beat Fitzgibbons for last year's title and Hawaiian star Carissa Moore had won the previous three.
Hawaiian phenomenon John John Florence, the defending world champion, is the man to beat after he dominated at Margaret River for his first top-level win in Australia.
Australian Matt Wilkinson is the defending Bells Beach champion.
After finishing runner-up to compatriot Owen Wright at Snapper Rocks, Wilkinson was an early elimination at Margaret River.
Veteran Australian Mick Fanning has made a slow start to the season, but he is a proven performer at Bells Beach with four titles and a third place last year.
Bells Beach is an iconic event and Gilmore said every surfer badly wants to win it.
"It's historic, it's adventurous - to come down here and think back to the 70s and 80s, when all the guys were down here for the event," she said.
"They were all rugged up on the cliff, surfing in football jerseys - and all the old imagery of the guys pulling up in their Valiants in the car park, their cool sunnies, the Sandmans."
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