ASH TAYLOR FIT TO PLAY DRAGONS

Hometown star to face Dragons ‘no matter what’

ASH Taylor has declared he will play in the Titans’ trip to Toowoomba no matter what in a sign of his commitment to putting on a show for his home region.

The 23-year-old was shattered to miss Gold Coast’s away loss to the Warriors last weekend due to a hamstring niggle but put his availability beyond doubt for their Round 3 showdown against unbeaten St George Illawarra.

“It feels good,” Taylor said of his hamstring.

“Obviously it pulled up a bit sore against the Raiders the first game but full confidence now and I am back training with the boys.

“It was a massive call for the coach to pull me out of the game – I was pretty disappointed actually that I didn’t even get a chance to play.

“It’s 100 per cent this week and I’m going to make sure I’m not on the sidelines.”

Taylor, in fact, said he was never going to miss the opportunity to play at Clive Berghofer Stadium – the venue for several of his junior footy grand finals – having missed a pre-season NRL trial there against Brisbane last month.

“No matter how bad the hammy is or anything else, I am playing it,” he said.

“It’s very special to play in front of my family and friends back in Toowoomba. It’s going to be very exciting.

Having won first-up against Canberra, the Titans were unable to cover the loss of their star half in a 20-8 defeat to the Warriors.

The result immediately sparked talk of whether the club will struggle any time Taylor is out.

Taylor shot down that theory.

“Just because I am not in there doesn’t mean they can’t do a good job,” he said.

Sunday’s Titans-Dragons contest begins at 3:10pm.