That's what kept running through Ellie Mooney's mind during all the rehab sessions after she ruptured her ACL last year.

The injury kept the LifeStudio netballer out for a full season, but she has come back hungrier than ever.

"You take for granted playing at that level, and it's not until you have nothing and you can't even run let alone play that you realise what it means," she said.

"It just makes you more determined to come back."

So when the Penrith Panthers decided they wanted her to play in their under 23 Netball NSW Premier League team for 2022, she was over the moon.

"It was crazy, I didn't even believe it," she said.

"They started coming and watching me at some NSW trainings I had last year and then from that I played a few games for them last season. After that they offered me a contract for this season."

Mooney was nervous stepping out onto the court for those Panthers games last season, but knows how valuable that experience will be this time around.

"I'll have that little bit more confidence having played with some of the girls already," she added.

Alongside her in the team will be fellow Orange athlete Alex Emerson. But those will be the only two Central West girls in the side, with the majority of the team made up from players in the Sydney, Newcastle and Wollongong areas.

The season will begin around the start of April and games played on Wednesday nights. Mooney won't be short of match time as she is still set to play for LifeStudio as well as any representative games for Orange as well.

But after a year away from the game she loves, she wants to soak up as much court time as she can.

"Just to make a full season, without COVID getting in the way," she said when asked what her goals were.

"Taking to the court for the whole season would be really good."