Has Ilona Maher hinted that her return to rugby is around the corner?

The USA’s Ilona Maher has hinted that her return to rugby could be just around the corner on social media.

Last week the 29-year-old posted a selfie of herself wearing a USA Rugby t-shirt to her Instagram account that has 5.6 million followers. Behind Maher two pairs of rugby boots can be seen and the post has got tongues wagging about her future on a rugby field.

This included comments from Australia’s Maddison Levi, along with former USA teammates Nicole Heavirland and Lauren Doyle, with the latter writing “Sheeeeeeee’s baaaaaack”.

Maher has not been seen on a rugby pitch since the USA Women’s Eagles exited Women’s Rugby World Cup 2025 at the group stage.

She played every minute as her team lost to England, picked up a draw against Australia and beat Samoa. In the time since Maher has focused on her podcast, House of Maher, made a series of high-profile appearances and commercial interests.

In April, new USA Women’s Eagles coach Jack Hanratty revealed that the 29-year-old had been preparing to return to Emilie Bydwell’s USA Women’s Eagles Sevens programme but did not entirely rule her out from representing the XVs team again in the future.

“Ilona is going to slowly get back into sevens,” Hanratty told RugbyPass. “She’s been off rugby for a while so it would be unfair on her to bring her in. I got to chat to her, it was great.

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“The nice thing here is that we’re starting to bring the sevens and 15s together, that’s new. We’re trying to make it a little bit more fluid and that will benefit a player like Ilona for sure.”

Last season on the HSBC SVNS Series, the USA Women’s Eagles Sevens finished third in the eight-team competition and fourth overall on the HSBC SVNS World Championships. The highlight of their season was a third-place finish at SVNS NYC.

Ariana Ramsey became the first female USA player to be nominated for HSBC SVNS Women’s Player of the Year, and was also named in the Women’s SVNS Dream Team of the Year. Tahna Wilfley was nominated for Women’s SVNS Rookie of the Year for her efforts.

With exactly two years to go until the 2028 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, it would come as no surprise if Maher is targeting the Games being held in the city she calls home.

24 months ago in Paris, the 29-year-old was a significant figure in her team’s bronze medal success with their 14-12 win over Australia in the bronze medal match. During the tournament Maher became rugby’s most-followed player on social media.