They may have lost one backrow warrior but there's some bad news for teams facing off against the Reds in the Super W season - another of their gun forwards is set to return to action stronger than ever.
It was only when her shoulder had completely healed that Kiri Lingman realised just how compromised her game had become last season.
The Reds captain in season two of the Super W competition, Lingman was a backrow warrior for the Queensland women, who again fell just short in their quest to win a maiden premiership.
But it was not until she was in camp with the Wallaroos ahead of last year's landmark home Test series against Japan that a team doctor picked up on some "red flags".
"It was an ongoing issue and something that I didn't think was as bad as it was," Lingman said.
"I was away at camp with the Wallaroos and talking to the doc, there were a couple of red flags with some of the things I was saying.
"She wanted me to go and get a scan and the scan said we were basically past the point of any rehab, that I had to have surgery.
"It was a bit of a shock. We were doing different exercises and icing it and some days it would feel great and sometimes it wouldn't feel that great.
"But the scans showed it wasn't in a great state."
Lingman underwent a complete reconstruction of her right shoulder, the operation forcing her to miss the Test series against Japan and New Zealand, as well as the Uni 7s series.
But what initially seemed like a massive blow could turn out to have a silver lining, with Lingman set to line up in the Super W an even better player than when she won Wallaroos selection.
"I definitely was restricting myself with what I was doing but not realising it because I was convincing myself it was fine," she said.
"And now that it's back at full strength, I realise I wasn't at where I should have been."
With the Aussie women preparing for the World Cup in 2021, Lingman is grateful she has undergone surgery and rehab in time to push her case for a massive year on the representative calendar.
"When injuries happen, everything stops just like that, so it took me a while just to accept it," she said.
"But to be honest, the injury is probably an accumulation of the year before - going from Super W to international to Aon, so everything built up and I probably just needed to take a break.
"We talked with the doctors about whether we were going to try to get me through the rest of the year but I said to myself, there was no point in delaying it and then cutting into this year with recovery.
"We just got it done as soon as possible and obviously the main goal is the World Cup in 2021, so I just want to be as fit and ready as possible for that year."
Before that though, Lingman, a lock or backrower, will line up with the Reds women against Fiji on Sunday to hone their Super W preparations.
The Reds have a round one bye and will take on Fijiana at Ballymore ahead of their Super W competition opener against the Rugby WA women in Perth on February 22.
After finishing as runners-up in the first two seasons of the competition, the Reds women are out to take the next step.
"I'd say we're pretty hungry for it," Lingman said.
"You don't want to look too far ahead and you want to take each game as it comes but obviously that end goal is to be in that final and to be holding the trophy up at the end of it and that's what we're fighting for every single training and every single game."
