What came next surprised the South Warrnambool netballer – she made the 15-player squad and will soon start training for the 2018 Australian Netball League season.

“There was criteria for the tryouts – you either had to play championship grade VNL (Victorian Netball League) or have been in a previous state team,” O’Connor said.

“I have played championship VNL so I put my name down to see how I went.

“There were three tryouts and the first tryout was on a Friday. I wasn’t expecting big things. I went there and I made a cut which I was stoked about.

“The second tryout I was fortunate to get through too and at the last tryout they decided the squad.

“It was pretty surreal.”

O’Connor said the ANL – a tier below the Super Netball national competition – was a chance to fast-track her netball.

Four of her teammates are training with the Melbourne Vixens.

“I am looking forward to have really good coaching and being able to train alongside Vixens’ training partners and alongside Vixens – it will be an amazing experience.

“We have a (practice) match against the Vixens and when I saw that I thought ‘oh my god’.”

O’Connor, 17, hopes to take a gap year in 2018 as she strives to make her mark on the netball court.

The Ballarat Clarendon College boarder hopes to live in either Geelong or Melbourne to help ease the travel burden with the Fury expected to train four or five times a week.

O’Connor said her Hampden league home club, South Warrnambool, was tracking well.

“We definitely built on last year and I think South can keep building for years to come,” she said.

“The girls were awesome. I didn’t train on Thursdays but I came on Saturdays and slotted in.

“It was a fun year and a real treat coming home to play for them.”