Fast-forward to the present and the Orange CYMS forward has just been named the women's Central West Premier League hockey player of the year.

The representative star said she limped off the pitch following an "embarrassing" season in 2022 and was facing a cross-roads in her career.

"I felt embarrassed actually," she said.

"At the back end of last year I pulled both hamstrings, a couple of weeks apart. I played semi-finals basically running around on one leg and it was disappointing to finish the year like that.

"It was at that point I knew things needed to change."

Simple things like going back to the gym and fuelling her body correctly helped plus there was plenty of motivation after a friendly bet with her coach.

"At the end of last year for added motivation our coach Pete Shea made a bet with me and said 'I'll give you $50 if you can lose 10 kilos before the start of the season'," she said.

"I thought 'right, you're on' because I knew I could do it. Once I turned up to training I'd lost 11 and I told him to pay up and he did.

"You notice a hell of a difference, it's easier to get around and you aren't looking for a sub every five minutes."

With CYMS falling short in the preliminary final against Parkes United, Smith wasn't planning on making the trip to Bathurst to watch the grand final.

In fact, she had to be eventually told the reason she needed to attend.

"My sister kept pushing me to go and watch the grand final but I had swapped by on-call shift for work after we didn't make it," she said.

"Once she found out she had to ring me and actually tell me to make me go.

"In my whole time playing premier league I've never actually won this award so it was quite a shock.

"Considering how poorly I played last year and being able to turn around and win that award is pretty cool.

"I'm over the moon to be honest."

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