But it wasn't until the Wagga Blaze small forward sought medical advice that she discovered it was more sinister.

"I just thought I had a cold but it wasn't until a month later I actually went to the doctors. They said I had a type of pneumonia and was very lucky they caught it when they did because I could have been in hospital with a really severe case," Clyne said.

"They did an x-ray and all these blood tests, I just had real bad muscle pain in my legs and couldn't sleep.

"I had two lung infections so to recover I wasn't allowed to play for four to five weeks. I've been back for two training runs which has been nice."

The Leeton 20-year-old believes she picked up the issue travelling back from volunteer work at the Vervet Monkey Foundation in South Africa, where she helped care for sick and orphaned monkeys.

"They reckon it was probably travel because I did over 32 hours of travel to get home to Leeton," she said.

"I was pretty devastated, but my health is the most important thing and I wanted to make sure I was right for finals because we have a pretty good team this year.

"It (trip) was awesome. I didn't think I'd go to South Africa because it was never on the list, but I really wanted to do something with monkeys or animals.

Clyne, a member of the Blaze's Waratah League division one championship squad last year, played a few minutes in their last-start home win over Shoalhaven on July 13 to ensure she's eligible for finals.

The Blaze finish the regular season against Goulburn on Sunday afternoon, with a win needed to secure top spot in their pool before the finals weekend at Gosford two weeks later.

"I'm hoping to get a lot more (minutes) than I played last time. I was just going out there and not pushing myself, but I want to this week and have been doing extra training.

"We need to make sure we're not complacent, last year we lost to Goulburn twice.

"I'd say (the team) this year is a bit stronger because we've got a lot more height this year, I really think we can take it all the way."

Sunday's match tips off at 12pm at Bolton Park Sports Stadium.

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