Wests Tigers’ Jason Taylor says the nerves have not yet set in as he prepares to resurrect his NRL head coaching career.
Following a 12-year playing career, Taylor was considered one of the brightest young coaches in the game before his tenure at South Sydney was cut short after an alcohol-fuelled brawl with prop David Fa’alogo at a Surry Hills pub during ‘mad Monday’ celebrations in 2009.
It was a bitter blow for a man who, after taking over from Brian Smith at Parramatta midway through the 2006 season, took a struggling Eels to the finals where they narrowly lost to Melbourne in his first taste as a top coach.
He enhanced his reputation further in his debut season at South Sydney with the Rabbitohs finishing in the finals for the first time since 1989.
But all his good work was undone by the Fa’alogo incident and he was forced to repair his career by coaching the NSW Residents side and the Sydney Roosters’ under-20s team.
Roosters coach Trent Robinson then appointed him as his right-hand man and the pair masterminded the club’s first NRL premiership in 11 seasons in 2013.
Last year, he’d all but secured the Parramatta senior coaching job, and it was rumoured he’d even been interviewed on the Eels website about his new role only for the offer to be pulled by a factionalised board 48 hours later.
He eventually landed at Concord on a three-year deal and will dip his foot back into NRL waters when the Tigers take on the Gold Coast at Cbus Stadium on Saturday.
“I haven’t felt any of that (nerves) yet, to be honest,” Taylor said.
“I’ll probably feel it when we get up there. I feel confident in the work the guys have done and the way we’ve prepared.
“I think we’ll come up with a good account of ourselves.”
The Wests Tigers will also give a glimpse into their future against Gold Coast when they unleash playmaking trio Luke Brooks, Mitchell Moses and James Tedesco in the same side for the first time.
Moses and NRL rookie of the year Brooks have been playing together since they were 12 and the Tigers are banking on them being their long-term halves combination.
However, they have never teamed up with highly rated fullback Tedesco, who has been restricted to just 28 matches in three years during an injury-plagued start to the 22-year-old’s career.
“(Moses and Brooks) really do work well together and Teddy (Tedesco) really works well with what they do,” Taylor said.
“But I’m just saying to Wests Tigers supporters, don’t expect too much in round one as far as that goes. But we’ll be in the game – I’ll be confident of that.”
