The YouTube gym sessions that put Polata on the map

When China Polata told her dad that she wanted to be a rugby league player, he told her she was too small, but if she was prepared to put in the hard work he'd help make the dream a reality.

It was the summer of 2018 when Polata saw women's rugby league gaining traction in her hometown of Brisbane. Fast, fit and agile, she was playing Sevens rugby in Queensland's Youth Championship at the time, but her heart was with rugby league.

Knowing she needed to get in shape for the rigours of rugby league, Polata's father Sefita put his plan in place – posting numerous videos of her ripping in at training, which attracted the attention of now Cowboys NRLW coach Ben Jeffries. 

"I was 15 years old and playing Sevens for Tribe at West Bulldogs. One of the girls said to me, 'hey you should come and play league'," Polata told NRL.com. 

"And my dad always said no to league, because I was too skinny, but then he decided to get me in the gym pretty much every day.

"He made me do really weird stuff.

"He'd make me do all these band movements, tying it up to the to the pole and making me run on the spot with the bands underneath my feet.

"And he would hook me up to all these bands and make me do sprint work. It was really odd. But it actually made a lot of difference.

"He would film me and post it on Facebook and YouTube and all of a sudden one day I was at school in Year 12 and Ben Jeffries called and asked if I wanted to come to the Queensland trials.

"I remember asking him how he found out about me and he was like, 'Oh, your dad, he posted those videos of you on YouTube ... that's how I found you."

As the Women's Maroons Under 18s coach, Jeffries was tasked with uncovering Queensland's most promising talent to showcase in the inaugural junior State of Origin competition at North Sydney Oval in 2019.

Following various competitions across the state and trawling highlight videos to find the Maroons and NRLW stars of the future, the unique clip of a Souths Logan Magpie perfecting her trade at a local gym aligned perfectly.

"Queensland didn't have the pathways they have now, so I literally picked China from a YouTube clip, that’s where I found her," Jeffries told NRL.com.

"People always ask what you look for and there’s certain things you do but it’s just how she ran and how she competed in these particular clips which grabbed my attention.

You go with your gut feeling at times, that’s certainly a good indicator and that's what it was with China. And that created a trust and a bond from the get-go and it's why we've got quite a unique relationship.

Ben Jeffries Cowboys NRLW coach

It was a rapid rise for the athletic outside back, who despite having overcome an ACL injury in 2020, went on to make her NRLW debut for the Broncos and star for Tonga in the mid-season Test last year.

However, Polata came to a crossroad last season when she found herself falling out of love with the game. 

"If you look back 12 months ago, yeah she had played Broncos NRLW, but she was in no mans land when it came to BMD (Queensland Women's premiership), she was just lost," Jeffries said. 

'"She rang me and said, 'I need to get out of my comfort zone.'

"There was an opportunity for her to play BMD for the Mackay Cutters and Cowboys NRLW. So I told her that if you bring yourself up here and put yourself in front of personnel, you’ll be fine. She made the leap. She had a really good BMD season, signed with North Queensland and made her Origin debut."

The proud Tongan and Ukrainian made an immediate impact on the wing for Tahnee Norris' Maroons, winning her side a penalty in the opening minute of Game Two.

In front of over 18,000 rugby league fans and playing on her new home turf, in just a few seconds the 21-year-old went from a name which momentarily dropped out of NRLW circles to a Cowboys star of the future.

With Jeffries in charge of the Cowboys' NRLW side in their debut season, he knows there's more to see from Polata in 2023.

"Origin was a bit of a proud parent moment for me in seeing your players progress from one level to the next level and the next level," Jeffries said.

"I have no doubt that she wants to play for her country one day and be a regular Origin player so that’s probably her next step.

"She wants to learn. She knows that you’ve got to get out of your comfort zone to grow and progress as a player and a person and she’s done that.

"At the moment she’s in the outside backs but I think her evolution is to move closer to the ball, so that could be centre, back-row, lock forward. She loves contact and getting amongst it so I think that’s the evolution of China going forward.

"And, if I'm honest, I don’t think you have seen the best from China yet."