Player injury diary: China Polata

There is no doubt that injuries are challenging – they can be scary, isolating, and tough on you, both mentally and physically.

But they can also be character building.

I was only a teenager when I ruptured my ACL, sidelining me for 19 months, and now this year I have missed the whole BMD Premiership season due to a tear throughout my entire labrum in my shoulder.

But my biggest belief is that the minor setbacks are for major comebacks.

Going through something like my ACL injury at a young age, it did teach me a lot.

It showed me to just embrace the challenges and changes that come with learning to adapt to a new lifestyle.

It showed me to trust the process and fall in love with the journey, not just the destination. Don’t resent it, embrace it.

It wasn’t a good circumstance of being sidelined with my ACL but it was good preparation for the injuries that come now and into the future.

If I’ve done it once before, I can do it again.

That was my mindset heading into this year.

It was at the start of the Mackay Cutters pre-season and we had just returned from Christmas break in one of our first sessions back.

I went to make a tackle but my arm was a bit too wide and it got caught and my shoulder went with my teammate who was running through.

It was my right shoulder – a shoulder that had been loose for maybe the past six years of my footy career.

I’d also popped it out twice last year so this third occurrence in pre-season forced me to go get scans.

While it was something I didn’t really want at the time, it was definitely the right choice and I’m really glad I did get it because I pretty much had a tear throughout my entire labrum.

The soft tissue from the front to the back, it was all torn up, and my shoulder was really, really, really unstable.

I had surgery on the 12th of February and I knew from the start I would miss the BMD Premiership season.

The timeframe they gave me, they think I can be back for Round 1 of the NRLW with the North Queensland Cowboys.

And that’s what I’m gunning for.

It’s been a rollercoaster watching the BMD Premiership unfold this year – the girls were crowned minor premiers and will kick off their finals campaign this weekend and I couldn’t be prouder of them.

But not being able to be part of it or to play, of course it’s been tough.

I’m three months post-op now and it’s slowly coming along really nicely but it’s been a bit of a challenge, especially the sling.

I hated the sling. It meant I could not do simple tasks that some of us take for granted – being able to reach for something or grab something, brushing my teeth, driving, doing my hair.

I had to rely on my partner or my mum or my aunty or the girls at training just to do my hair.

I didn’t realise how much I use my shoulder.

Going from a knee injury to an upper body injury, it’s very different.

But, throughout the whole thing, I always knew I was going to be okay.

In my comeback year from my ACL, I moved north to sign with the Cutters for the BMD Premiership. I then signed with the Cowboys and I made my State of Origin debut with the Harvey Norman Queensland Maroons.

I know I’ll be all right again.

It was definitely a big kick in the teeth when I was getting advised to have the surgery earlier this year but it’s for my longevity.

I knew that if I could come back from my knee and have a year like last year, this can only help me level up from here.

I haven’t only been focused on getting back on the field physically, but also my mental fitness.

I’m doing a lot more sit downs with wellbeing managers and sports psychologists to help me prepare for everyday life challenges, like when I couldn’t get up and make myself breakfast or just lie on my side.

I’ve started journaling a lot more.

This has helped me fall in love with being in a painful place, like when I’m doing off-feet conditioning – it’s having the mental toughness to know how to revert my thinking. It’s been really good.

I thrive a lot when I come off things like this. You either give up or you don’t.

It’s definitely made me tougher, going through the ACL two years ago. Now I know how determined I can be coming back from an injury.

It gives me confidence and I know I’ll be back from this one too.