Deal for Taylor on the table

While the Brisbane Broncos are understood to be keen to lure Taylor back to Red Hill after the 2018 season, they would not be the only club interested in the 22-year-old if he was to enter the market.

The Titans have previously pledged to do all they can to keep Taylor on the Coast and look to be good to their word with discussions with the star and his manager understood to be progressing well.

While several clubs are in perilous positions after overestimating the expanded salary cap for next season, the Titans had been particularly conservative, allowing them to build a reserve to make a bold bid for Taylor, while still planning for future success.

Speculation over Taylor’s future has raged since Wayne Bennett declared last month he would be “silly not to try and bring Ash Taylor back” to the Broncos in the wake of Ben Hunt’s departure for the Dragons at the end of the season.

But Taylor has refused to disrespect the club he is contracted to until 2018, saying earlier this season the Titans were the outfit that had handed him his NRL chance.

“The Titans gave me an opportunity and I love it dearly,’’ he said.

“I’m not going to disrespect them and pack up and leave just because Ben Hunt’s signed elsewhere.”

The Titans have locked in several players on long-term contracts over the past two years. The mid-year extension of NSW hooker Nathan Peats until 2020 handed the Coast one of the most important pieces of the puzzle.

The club has embarked on a retention and recruitment drive that included luring Broncos forward Jai Arrow back to the Coast while extending the tenure of rookie Morgan Boyle.