Broadhead was selected as part of the Women's 27s team, which won five of six matches in the round robin stages and was pipped by New Zealand in the grand final, 4-5.

Meeting their trans-Tasman foes in the grand final was no surprise to Broadhead, who was confident that Australia could make the finals from the outset of the tournament.

"We always expected to make the grand final," Broadhead said.

"New Zealand and Australia are the only dominant touch football nations."

However, she did acknowledge that sides like Japan, Singapore, and England are "improving" and "have come on a fair bit".

This was the first time that Broadhead had traveled to Malaysia, and she said that the climate in Kuala Lumpur was "like nothing I've ever experienced."

"I've played touch and sevens in Darwin, and every year nationals is in Coffs [Harbour], and it's always pretty hot and humid, but nothing compared to that [Malaysia].

"It's hard to explain, but it's pretty tough.

"It knocks you around, but they helped us manage pretty well."

The match against New Zealand was a back-and-forth affair, as the Australians quickly fell 0-3 down against their perennial rivals.

A surging comeback saw Australia take the lead at 4-3 briefly, however New Zealand responded with a pair of tries which put them in front and left Australia no time to respond.

"To lose a World Cup grand final by one's always tough," Broadhead said.

"Everyone says it's great that we made the final and we're second in the world, but we still wanted to win.

"[New Zealand are] a good team, and they had a lot of experienced players."

Upon her return, Broadhead has decided to take some time off from competition, citing a hectic year as the reason.

"I've had a big 12 months," she said.

"I'm having a bit of a break and seeing what happens, it's been a massive 12 months."