On the eve of the Cricket World Cup in New Zealand, White Ferns captain Sophie Devine has revealed the difficult and emotional path she's taken to get here.
New Zealand face the West Indies in the opening game of the tournament on Friday at Tauranga, almost a year since the all-rounder took a two-month break from the sport for mental health.
Now, she's about to tick off a lifelong goal of playing in a home world tournament.
"I think it's certainly got the potential to be right at the top of the list," she tells Newshub.
And while there are plenty of comforts and local support, Devine's not getting too carried away.
"I don't want to put too much expectation on it, it's just a chance to go out and play with my mates," she insists.
A year ago, Devine, 32, was unsure when she'd see those mates again, with fatigue and mental health driving her into a two-month hiatus.
"I always knew that I wanted to come back to cricket," she insists. "I just knew that I needed time away from it.
"I didn't know how long I needed or what it looked like. I just knew that I needed time away from the game for the sake of my own health."
Devine's still managing that process.
"There is a lot more to life outside of cricket and even though there was the incentive of a home World Cup, there's a lot more to me, as a person, than just a cricketer."
Like Devine, all-rounder Amelia Kerr, 21, also recently took time out of the game, making herself unavailable for the team's tour of the UK last September, also for mental health reasons.
"The strength she's shown, the courage to go through what she has to step away from the game, to put her hand up and say she wasn't OK, was huge," says Devine. "For someone of her age to do that, I think the impact is going to have a lot of positive effects.
Devine believes Kerr is well-placed to deliver on the biggest stage - and the numbers show it. Kerr scored 353 runs at an average of 117 and took seven wickets in the recent one-day series against India.
But Devine herself will also need to play a leading role.
"I'm more than desperate to win this World Cup, but I also know I need to go about things as I have done for the last however-many years I've been playing and back myself in."
Join us at 2pm Friday for live updates of the White Ferns v West Indies World Cup clash
