'A lot of doors are opening': Jada Taylor is being rewarded for hard work and sacrifice

Elevation to Rugby Australia's No 2 sevens squad this year, and a starring debut season as the Roosters claimed the under-19 Tarsha Gale Cup in May, was quickly followed by the playmaker signing her first NRLW contract.

And now the 18-year-old Tamworth export - who usually plays fullback or five-eighth - has been named in the NSW squad for their under-19 clash against Queensland at Leichhardt Oval on Thursday. She is currently encamped with the Blues ahead of the Origin clash.

Despite playing only two of four games at this month's under-19 national championships on the Gold Coast, after being stricken with flu, Taylor was named NSW Country's players' player of the tournament.

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Added to the dizzying elite-sport mix, the teen sensation's "proud" Tamworth-based father has revealed that his daughter has been asked to train with Australia's sevens squad.

The 2024 Paris Olympics were very much in her sights, said Luke Taylor, the Dungowan Cowboys co-coach and an NRL game-development officer.

On top of all that, Taylor seems to have segued effortlessly from the Tarsha Gale Cup into the Roosters' NSW Women's Premiership side, locking down a starting spot at centre and enhancing her chances of making her NRLW debut next season.

At lot is happening at once as rugby league and rugby union stake claims for one of the country's most promising young football talents.

But, as Luke pointed out, his girl was in this enviable position because she was willing to sacrifice the comfort of home for the challenge of living in Sydney as she chased her sporting dreams.

She enrolled at the Wenona School in North Sydney in year 10, before graduating the all-girls boarding school last year.

Luke said: "We're all very proud of her. She's worked hard. She's probably done it pretty tough. Like, she went down there [Sydney] to school by herself for a few years.

"She lives with an aunty [now], but the aunty is not at home a lot, so she lives down there [Sydney] by herself a lot.

"It just shows that she's got a drive, that she really wants to make it in what she loves, and she's doing it at the moment - it's paying off."

In short, Luke said "a lot of doors are opening" due to "a lot of hard work".

Commenting on the former Dungowan Cowgirls' rugby sevens promotion, he said: "They asked her to do some training with the No 1 squad. I dare say she's obviously still not quite with them. But just being asked to train with them is a big thing.

"You know, if something goes wrong higher up, she may get her chance."

He continued: "Obviously playing for NSW in Origin ... You know, we're all proud being a league family. But she's obviously got aspirations of playing [at the] Olympics, if she can keep going."

Taylor has said that eventually she will have to choose between league and union.

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