The Melbourne-based Rainbow, who began her netball in the North-East at Winnaleah before moving to Launceston to play with Cavaliers, has been rewarded for her hard work with her second national call-up in four months having made the Australian under-20 team that played in an international series against England and New Zealand this month.

“I had a training camp last week in Canberra so I was super excited when I found out I was in the squad,” Rainbow said. “There are 20 in the squad which will be cut to 12 so it will be really competitive at such a high level so it depends on how the next few months pan out for me and the next camp in November. The Australian under-20s was an awesome opportunity playing against NZ and England to get that international experience and play some top-level netball.”

Studying nutrition science at Monash University, Rainbow is in her first year back playing after a frustrating two years sidelined with knee tendinopathy and the 19-year-old said she had enjoyed some training sessions with the Melbourne Vixens and the Vic Fury ANL team.

“I want to go as far as I can and for me it is about seeing where it goes – I love the sport and the team aspect of it. It depends on how next season goes and taking opportunities when they come. I definitely want to break into the ANL next season.”