FUN AND GAINS Out of form Ash chases the footy love factor

AN honest Ash Taylor admits he must rediscover his love of footy after savaging his recent Broncos shocker as the worst game of his NRL career.

The talented half was touted as an option for Maroons coach Kevin Walters just a month ago but has come crashing back to earth in the past three games.

Gold Coast slumped 34-0 to Brisbane in Round 17 on July 8, with Taylor singled out for particular criticism.

The 23-year-old denied missing Origin selection had affected him but said he needed to snap out of his funk to help the Titans finish strongly.

“My personal performance hasn’t been great,” Taylor said.

“It seemed to hit me the last few weeks and I’ve just got to pick my game up to benefit the team. “You do have your off games. “The Broncos would probably be the worst game of my career, I’d say, my head just wasn’t in the game and it’s sort of let on the last few weeks.

“I just need to get back in the mindframe of being happy playing footy.”

Taylor wants to do that against the Warriors at Cbus Super Stadium on Sunday. The Warriors are entrenched in the eight and are looking to increase their stellar record against the Gold Coast to 15 wins from their past 16 encounters.

“It’s obviously a big occasion for the Warriors to come to the Gold Coast, they have a lot of supporters here and they do pull fair crowds,” Taylor said.

“(Warriors halves) Blake Green and Shaun Johnson have been going great this year, they’re a great combination and it’s paid dividends for them this year, so me and AJ (Brimson) will have a real test on our hands this week.”

More than breaking their Warriors hoodoo, though, Taylor said the Titans wanted to win to start building for next season.

To celebrate Fox League’s Retro Round, fans can get tickets to the match at throwback prices by logging onto nrl.com/tickets and entering the code word “retro” before midnight tomorrow.

The Warriors always draw a big crowd to Robina and Taylor said it would be great to fill the stadium for Sunday’s clash.

“Last year when we played them it was like you were at Suncorp (in Brisbane) ... and everyone (was) looking forward to the game,” he said.

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