Ash Taylor has signed a contract to be a Warriors player next year on a trial and train deal with the New Zealand club based in Redcliffe, northern Brisbane.
The five-eighth turned down the opportunity to join other NRL clubs to play for the Warriors next year, with the club having an option in their favour for the 2022 season and he’ll earn considerably less than the $1 million a season he was on with the Titans.
Taylor wants to rebuild his career and show that after one year with the Warriors he is worthy of a bigger contract from 2023.
For the Warriors, it’s an outstanding signing. If he plays to his potential they will have got the bargain of the season, if it doesn’t, which could be if Taylor doesn’t play well, or doesn’t have the right attitude, they are able to cut ties with him quickly.
The signing of Taylor gives Warriors coach Nathan Brown of playing Taylor or Chanel Harris-Tavita in the halves with Shaun Johnson.
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It will be interesting to see who Brown goes with first for the 2022 campaign and it could come down to which player has the better preseason.
Harris-Tavita will be in the final year of his current contact next season and has indicated he’ll talk to other clubs from November 1, for a deal beginning in 2023.
The Warriors have indicated they won’t be offering Harris-Tavita a new contract until around half a dozen games next year have been played, but they do want him on their books next season and are unlikely to give him an early release, even if he has a contract with another club from 2023.
As for Taylor, there is little chance of him staying with the Warriors beyond next season and it is partly because the Warriors will be in South East Queensland that the former Junior Kangaroo has agreed to join them.
At his best, Taylor is a genuine game breaker and alongside Johnson in the halves and Reece Walsh at fullback, the Warriors could have one of the best attacking spines in the NRL next season.
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Meanwhile, Stuff understands that Cronulla Sharks five-eighth Luke Metcalf would like to join the Warriors next season, but the Sharks are still reluctant to let him go.
From November 1 the Warriors are able to talk to Metcalf about joining the club from 2023 and it’s clear he wants to be with the Warriors.
He would even be keen on coming next year, despite Taylor, Harris-Tavita and Johnson already in the halves for 2022, but at this stage it appears he’ll have to remain with the Sharks for one more season.
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