Recently retired W-League star Rhali Dobson walked more than 100-kilometres with just two pairs of socks separating her feet from the highway.

It was after she ditched the shoes barely a third of the way into her three-day trek for the Mark Hughes Foundation last month.

With former NRL stars such as Aaron Gorrell and Bill Peden in the 26-strong team, the walk from NRL Headquarters to McDonald Jones Stadium raised more than $100,000 for the Mark Hughes Foundation to support brain cancer research.

But sitting down on the side of the M1 Pacific Motorway, there was only one alternative. And quitting wasn't one of them.

"I ditched my shoes and finished the rest of the walk which was over 100ks in my socks," Dobson said.

"I double-socked it for the remainder of the walk and they saw me through. I finished at McDonald Jones Stadium in my socks."

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With her mother and aunty alongside her, Dobson, from the NSW Mid North Coast, and the group reached their destination on June 19 after three-and-a-half days of walking.

She said the last part of the trek was arguably the best.

"Everyone got their one-millionth second wind for the walk when we saw McDonald Jones Stadium in the distance," she said.

"Everyone perked up and we were all smiles, all laughs and the jokes were free-flowing. By that point I could have run there."

Brain cancer is a cause close to the Wauchope junior's heart after partner Matt Stonham received the sobering diagnosis in 2015 following a seizure on the football field.

"Everyone in the group had been touched in some form by brain cancer or cancer in general," Dobson said.

"When you're focusing on putting one foot in front of the other all you can think of is 'yes, I'm in pain but this is nothing compared to what people with brain cancer are enduring every day in the past, present and future'."

It was at the end of the first day when Dobson had to call on every ounce of mental toughness just to continue the trek.

After achieving the 150-plus kilometre walk, the week that followed was just as remarkable.

With a number of gruelling pre-seasons with former club Melbourne City to call on, the 29-year-old was back on the training pitch in Newcastle within 72 hours.

"The plan was only to do the warm-up and see how the legs were going, but it felt quite good and it wasn't a super heavy session so I used it as a session to flush the legs out," she said.

"Then we had to play on the Friday and I played a full 90 minutes with no problems."

And what does the group hope the gruelling achievement will do?

"For me it was an opportunity for self-reflection," Dobson said.

"It was an opportunity to promote education and awareness around brain cancer and how it is the leading cause of death in Australia for under-40s in terms of cancer.

"As a unit we need to have this number one brain cancer centre in Newcastle and for me it didn't matter what I was feeling, I always had Matt by my side through it all."