Taylor needs to lift more: Garth

“He can’t be sitting back and letting Ash do all the work, they need to work together a bit better than what they did and hopefully that will come as the season goes on,” Brennan said.

Brennan said he was rapt with Taylor’s work ethic in preseason. The Toowoomba product has dropped several kilos, but Brennan urged Taylor to learn lessons in execution from Thurston, the Cowboys champion he hopes to succeed in the Origin arena.

Just 24 hours earlier, Thurston produced another moment of magic, with his 80th-minute kick snatching a win in his clash with the Storm.

“Ash has got aspirations to one day get to those heights, well they are things he needs to do. He needs to watch JT and learn from him and realise how to control a football match and to come up with the right play at the right time,” he said.

“Ash will get there, I’ve got confidence he will, but he needs to realise the expectation on him.”

Taylor, who is so talented he edged out Nathan Cleary for the Dally M rookie-of-the-year award in 2016, says he is ready to be the chief shot caller.