Melbourne Vixens netballer Tegan Philip says she won't take her second chance for granted ahead of next year's Commonwealth Games.
Australian mainstays Sharelle McMahon (118 Test caps) and Natalie Medhurst (86) have had a mortgage on the goal attack position for more than a decade.
With them both gone, the 28-year-old Philp will get first crack in Saturday's Quad Series opener against England in Brisbane.
Gretel Tippett, Susan Pettitt and Stephanie Wood are the other three Diamonds in a fight to call that position their own.
Philip played all of her nine Tests in 2014 and was part of the Commonwealth Games gold medal-winning squad in Glasgow.
But she fell out of favour after below-par performances in the Constellation Cup that followed and then missed the 2016 season when she tore her ACL.
She is now back in the squad after what she describes as her "best ever" season with the Vixens this year.
"Glasgow seems like forever ago, I'm stoked to be selected again," she said from camp on the Sunshine Coast on Thursday.
"I think I am a better player than I was; I'm more mature and the ACL injury means I don't take it for granted now and will make the most of my opportunities."
Diamonds coach Lisa Alexander will rotate her goal attacks for the Quad Series and Constellation Cup, with the only differences in the two squads coming in that position.
Philip and Tippett have been named in the Quad Series squad while Pettitt and Wood will vie for that bib in the Constellation Cup.
"Tegan's really matured ... she wasn't married, she hadn't had her injury and those two big things that happened in her life have made a significant difference," Alexander said.
Performances in the next two tournaments will decide who is named to defend gold on the Gold Coast next year.
"Realistically that is how it is, just three games to prove myself," Philip said of the Quad Series clashes with England, South Africa and New Zealand ahead.
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