From Wagga to the Wallaroos, Dawa on 'surreal' national squad selection

So when Biola Dawa picked up with "hello, is this an intervention?" she had no idea the Wallaroos coaching staff were listening in.

Expecting her ACT Brumbies teammates to be on the other side, it had not even crossed her mind she could be receiving her first call up to the national squad ahead of the Pacific Four Series.

"I thought it was just some of the Brumbies girls wanting to chat," Dawa said.

"My first response was 'hello, is this an intervention?' and didn't realise that I was talking to the Wallaroos staff until they introduced themselves, which is quite wild to think that was my first impression."

From Wagga to the national stage, Dawa first picked up the game in 2017 and quickly carved a name for herself in the local competition.

Major injury stalled her climb in 2020, just a year after her Super W debut, but working her way back into the representative level, she's become a mainstay in the ACT Brumbies side since her return in 2022.

A frank conversation with coach Scott Fava at the end of the 2023 season really pushed her to continue improving her game.

She said it still feels surreal to see her name among the Wallaroos squad.

"It's very exciting, it feels a bit like I am in a dream, it doesn't quite feel real," she said.

"It's hazy, I don't know how to explain that feeling.

"At the end of the 2023 season I had clear feedback from Scotty Fava in what I needed to do to get a look at the green and hold jersey and that was my main focus, getting those work ons during off the off season and applying it into my Super season for this year."

Still feeling she has plenty more to give, Dawa will be doing everything in her power to put her best foot forward at the upcoming training camp.

Focusing only on football for three weeks will be a new beast, she said, but one she looks forward to taking on.

Making the squad is an achievement in itself, but now she wants to make it onto the field.

"I'm going to give it my best shot," she said.

"If I get capped, that would be amazing, a dream come true, but I think my focus right now is to work on my strength, and improve on the areas I need to improve on to give myself the best chance of getting capped, and just focus on what I can do to play my best football."

With 11 Brumbies players in the squad, there are plenty of familiar faces around her helping her through this new experience.

Heading into the training camp this week, she is looking forward to hitting the ground running.

"I can ask them those little questions that I would normally be embarrassed to ask other players, so it's nice to have a bit of an inside of what to expect and what is going to be expected of me," she said.

"We've got a three week training camp starting on Thursday, it'll be an adjustment having to just think about football and being that elite professional environment with all the other girls that I've watched on TV and obviously looked up.

"It'll be a bit of a surreal feeling being in the same room as them, on the training field and doing the same thing that they're doing."

Dawa isn't the only Riverina local called into the squad with NSW Waratahs and Tumut local Piper Duck, and former Leeton student and Queensland Reds captain Cecilia Smith also in the squad.

The Wallaroos play Canada, USA, and New Zealand in the three week long Pacific Four Series, with the first game to be played on May 11.