Intuition gave way to second-guessing so she found herself drifting towards an endurance-heavy Ironmaori, a different fitness to sevens, for almost three years.
While watching international sevens on TV it dawned on her that mentally, spiritually and physically she still yearned to play rugby, rugby league and touch.
The Hastings Rugby and Sports veteran says a few other players are quite capable of assuming the mantle of captaincy but they probably chose her "because I'm an older head".
She returned to the rugby park as a player only because her daughter, fellow Bay sevens rep Teilah Ferguson, who turns 17 at the end of this month, wanted to play although the daughter was frantically trying to obtain a medical clearance to meet NZRU obligations that is threatening her chance of playing today.
She is unequivocal about what's required to still purr like a gleaming six-cylinder in a showroom so she simply puts in the hard yards.
"I'm going to keep going until I can go no more," she says, ruling out retirement as a numbers game.
So what's the secret?
"Determination and having a fitness freak of a husband," she says with a laugh of Faryn Ngawaka who also is the strength and conditioning coach of the Bay women's sevens squad this year although he has been a healthy lifestyles coach for yonks.
Ngawaka herds the often unsuspecting women to the HB Regional Sports Park tracks in Hastings and puts them through the spin-dry cycle for coach Daniel Nukunuku and his assistant, Joseph Heather.
After a few pre-season games, a core group of Bay women has come to the realisation that training at that intensity is what'll gain them entry back into the national equation.
"What he'd do is say, 'Let's go for a warm up'.
"But his warm up is not a warm up, it's a blowout so we get used to that in training.
"So now when we hear the words 'warm up' we freak out," she says.
The fine-tuning process on the field has been going well after a tourney in Tauranga recently where the Bay finished seventh in a field of 16.
Further endorsement of progress came about three weeks ago when they only took nine players and ended up playing top seeds Manawatu in the final.
"It was tight and they just got two tries in the end so that was a good test and moment for us."
Ferguson-Ngawaka says a top-four finish to make the cut for the nationals is do-able but the sun, stars and moon have to align cometh the hour in the six-team, two-pool competition today.
They are blessed with speed and fitness in a unit that offers an intoxicating blend of youth and experience.
"Our strength probably is that we are prepared to give things a go and be supportive in it," she says, believing the young are thriving in that responsive environment.
"The supportive ones are driving the new ones but the newer ones have got a lot to offer as well. They bring vibrancy, enthusiasm," says the human resources adviser at Te Taiwhenua o Heretaunga.
She sees the involvement of her daughter and husband in the sevens rep team as a tribute to her father, Grant Ferguson, who died this year.
"He just loved following us around so ... he would have been bragging about his granddaughter [Napier Girls' High School] and daughter being on the field at the same time."
Her whanau is "tight" but this moment would have instilled a sense of pride in her late father. Mother Noli Ferguson also used to join him on the sidelines.
Integral to that affinity is her burning desire to give back to rugby, sevens, rugby league and touch what Ferguson-Ngawaka embraced and relished in her illustrious playing career.
"It's an amazing opportunity and it gives you self-confidence," says the former Black Ferns Sevens representative who played in Dubai after several seasons with the NZ Maori women's side.
"It gives you an opportunity to travel the world and experience different countries and cultures.
"To help open the door for other people, especially in Hawke's Bay, would be fantastic," says the former Maori rugby league and touch international.
While the Bay is teeming with talent, she says the opportunities don't always arise because of the peripheral existence from the main centres.
Some of that talent pool in women's sevens has trickled enough to cut tributaries to other provinces in the past few years, to the extent that the Bay have struggled to muster a team to compete.
"We didn't get enough players ... mmm ... it's a bit of a tough one because I don't really know why we didn't get the interest," she says of a time when they were lucky to find half a dozen players put their hand up.
They still haven't enticed most of them back but Ferguson-Ngawaka believes that may change in this concerted drive to make Bay women more than just a blip on the national grid again.
"Hopefully this will open the door for more opportunities and attract more talented girls to come to the pool."
While not too sound with dates and figures ("it's the hubby's domain"), she can vouch for the halcyon days when the Bay women were a force to be reckoned with at the Maori Nationals that used to spawn the Aotearoa Women's Sevens team in the late 2000s.
"It was driven mainly by the team members."
The current Bay squad isn't devoid of pedigree players.
Laurae Blake, who commuted to Manawatu for the past two years, is an accomplished player and bolstered her CV with a stint in the United States this year with Arkansas in sevens.
Nina Pineaha-Hyslop also brings vast experience as a veteran Bay rep who has just returned to the code.
"She's super fit and super strong," says Ferguson-Ngawaka.
Shaylee Tipiwai is not only an allrounder but also a fast thinker.
"She's going to be a one to watch."
Niamh Jefferson is a former Under-18 Bay women's captain.
"Hopefully we'll be able to get through to the nationals and build on that."
Felicity Powdrell has immense potential and needs to build a base on experience.
Heather says East Coast have pulled out of today's tourney at the last minute.He says one has to be a special person to mentor women.
"I'm a little different because I have a vested interested as my daughter and my partner still play so I've got Daniel in to help me out for the past few years," says Heather of their Hastings Rugby and Sports club labour of love.
Realising there was potential in the Bay, the pair had no hestitation in embarking on the new journey to graduate to representative level.
"Everyone's getting a little excited now that the weekend has finally arrived to play at the regionals and make the nationals," he says.
TOURNEY DETAILS
For the annual Central Region women's sevens tournament in Levin today:
■ Pool A (number denotes seeding): Manawatu (1), Poverty Bay (4), Hawke's Bay (5).
■ Pool B: Wellington (2), Taranaki (3), Whanganui (6).
■ Hawke's Bay team (number denotes jersey): 1 Laurae Blake, 2 Nina Pineaha-Hyslop, 3 Teilah Ferguson, 4 Shaylee Tipiwai, 5 Julie Ferguson-Ngawaka (c), 6 Felicity Powdrell, 7 Niamh Jefferson, 9 Odelle Edmonds, 10 Kirsty-Rae Sciascia, 11 Jaydean Strickland, 12 Abbey Collier.
Head coach: Daniel Nukunuku.
Asst coach: Joseph Heather.
Trainer: Faryn Ngawaka.
Manager: Jamie Heather.
HB draws
■ 12pm: v Poverty Bay, field 1.
■ Rd2, 12.40pm: v Manawatu, field 1.
