![BOBBY-DAZZLER: "It's very important and very special to receive it," Jada Taylor says of her player of the match award from NSW's under-19 win over Queensland. Photo: NSWRL BOBBY-DAZZLER: "It's very important and very special to receive it," Jada Taylor says of her player of the match award from NSW's under-19 win over Queensland. Photo: NSWRL](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/KUhQizDbwW8WqAyPP4x5yp/b9cfc665-6fd7-4776-a898-17cde4c631e2.jpg/r0_0_619_840_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
Truer words have seldom been spoken.
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But then again, Blake Cavallaro spoke from a position of great authority when, on the eve of the biggest sporting occasion of Jada Taylor's young life, he said the fullback "brings the X-factor" and "loves the big arenas and the big stages".
At old Leichhardt Oval in Sydney on Thursday night, before her family and friends and a national TV audience watching on Nine, the 18-year-old Tamworth product shone bright like a diamond as Cavallaro's Blues beat Queensland 22-6 in an under-19 State of Origin clash that showcased the game's rugby league stars of tomorrow.
Taylor's two-try, player of the match display included a dazzling length-of-the-field, solo effort late in the game that sealed the result.
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It started when she fielded a grubber kick in-goal, and featured insane footwork and vision that resulted in her weaving through the defence and scoring a try that marked her as special.
With the rugby league gods looking on approvingly, Taylor's virtuoso performance also included a try assist and three line breaks.
Speaking to the Leader on Friday morning, the teen phenom said she was "still buzzing", adding: "It's a good feeling."
While it was "good" to perform so well on such a big stage, she continued, it was "very special" to do it in front of family and friends including her father, Dungowan Cowboys co-coach Luke Taylor, and her mother, Sonia Clayton.
"So, that was even more special for me," she said.
Having recently signed her first NRLW contract after a breakout season playing for Cavallaro's undefeated, premiership-winning under-19 Roosters this year, Taylor will surely soon showcase her considerable skillset in the NRLW - a skillset that is now much more widely known.
Speaking post-match, Taylor said: "It's very important and very special to receive it [the player of the match award]. But I definitely think it's off the back of a lot of hard work - of my team, not me."
Rugby league does not have dibs on Taylor; Rugby Australia has long nurtured her talent. And Tim Walsh, coach of the women's sevens national side, recently asked her to train with the side.
![OH YEAH! Taylor scores her first try against Queensland. Photo: NSWRL OH YEAH! Taylor scores her first try against Queensland. Photo: NSWRL](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/KUhQizDbwW8WqAyPP4x5yp/5aa998b6-6b60-47a4-84cd-25a626c4a431.jpg/r0_184_843_659_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
On Friday morning, she arrived in Queensland for a rugby camp with the Australia A sevens squad - the country's No 2 women's side.
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