​Straight Outta The Redfern Housing Commission: Women's Rugby League Star Rebecca Riley

Just five years after playing her first game of rugby league, Rebecca Riley represented the NSW State Of Origin Women's team in their groundbreaking win over Queensland this year - the first time they'd beaten their northern rivals since the two teams started playing each other 17 years ago.

The 22 year old was one of four Aboriginal women from Sydney's Redfern All Blacks (RAB) rugby league team to make the NSW squad, proving the suburb is still one of the country's leading football nurseries.

It was no surprise then to see both women's and men's RAB teams take out their respective divisions of the Koori Knockout in Sydney last weekend - an event which sees 35 000 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders make the trip from around the country to attend, and 3500 lace up a boot and play. Playing in the halves, Rebecca was also named Player Of The Tournament

"The carnival means a lot for me just because I get to play for my mob and my family and where I come from and represent where I live," she told Vice Sports. "Just to go out there and win the knockout is a big thing for us and our community," she said.

Growing up in the Redfern housing commission community, located in the heartland of the South Sydney Rabbitohs NRL territory, there were no shortage of National Rugby Leauge stars to look up to. Nathan Merritt (South Sydney, NSW Origin), Adam Reynolds (South Sydney), Reece Robinson (Parramatta Eels, Canberra Raiders, NSW Waratahs) Yileen Gordon (South Sydney, Canterbury Bulldogs), Wes Patten (Gold Coast) and Anthony Mundine (St George Illawarra, world champion boxer) are just some of the Aboriginal rugby league talents to have emerged from or lived in the area over the past two decades.

But Rebecca says she never paid much attention to the men. Her main inspiration was, and remains today, the captain of the RAB women's team and fellow NSW squad member, Lavina Phillips.

"She's brought so much to my game. I've learned so much for her. She's the reason I'm half the player I am and I'm pretty sure she's the reason half the girls in this team are the players they are today," she says.

The pair were dominant throughout the Koori Knockout with Rebecca running the show from the halves and Lavina dominating forward play in the centre of the field with big carries and huge hits. The All Blacks were too strong for the Red Belly Blacks from Western Sydney in the final, coming away with an easy 24-4 win.

"The last game wasn't our best game to be honest," said Rebecca, "We came into this game and we were buggered, which made it hard for us. We had a lot of drop balls and stuff but we got there in the end, it's good to get the win, pretty proud of the girls," she said.

Both Lavina and Rebecca were named in the Indigenous All Stars team earlier this year which took on the Women's All Stars. Rebecca hopes to one day represent the Australian Jillaroos national team at test level.

The Redfern and Waterloo housing commission flats have long been the target of police, media and now the Liberal Baird government, who are planning to demolish the lot, dispersing its 4000 inhabitants around the city and state. The move will almost certainly destroy one of the country's great rugby league nurseries, at a time when it's never been stronger. The Redfern All Blacks have won back-to-back premierships in the South Sydney Rugby League Competition along with the state-wide Koori Knockout, where both women's and men's teams have won three titles in succession.