Taylored win sets tone
ASH Taylor believes his Titans side can use elements of their Round 1 victory as a blueprint to stopping one of the NRL’s worst hoodoos.
Gold Coast’s record against the Warriors is diabolical.
They have one win from the past 14 NRL clashes between the teams, despite the Auckland club making the top eight only once in that period.
The Titans’ last head-to- head victory came in April 2015. Before that it was September 2010.
The Warriors landed another mental blow by taking the honours in a pre-season trial on the Sunshine Coast two weeks ago.
But Taylor feels their 30-28 triumph against the Raiders acted as an ideal preview to what they can expect at Mt Smart Stadium this Saturday.
“I think they are similar to Canberra,” Taylor said of the Warriors.
“They have some size up front and some big outside backs that get some momentum for them.
“We have just got to work hard on the stuff that we didn’t do right and things that we can adjust to prepare for the Warriors as well as we can.”
Taylor will be high on confidence after producing the perfect response to coach Garth Brennan’s challenge to channel his idol Johnathan Thurston by coming up with the right play at the right time.
Brennan’s comments had come after their scratchy trial loss to the Warriors on the same weekend a piece of JT magic stole victory for North Queensland against Melbourne.
Fast forward to Round 1 with two competition points on the line and Taylor delivered his own stroke of genius, a tricky grubber that found centre Konrad Hurrell.
Brennan insists the young playmaker has room for improvement, such as in his game management, but praised his courage and fast learning.
“He dug in and finished the game well and came up with that big play at the end,” Brennan said.
Taylor himself said he had been inspired by his teammates’ never-say-die attitude in an effort that reminded him of their 38-36 win over Melbourne last season.
“There was about eight minutes to go and we said there is plenty of time. We kept calm and just played footy,” Taylor said.