Prolific Manly winger Jorge Taufua says he’s learned a huge lesson and now wants to use his off-field problems this season to educate other NRL players who get into strife.

The 21-year-old’s banner season has yielded 18 tries in 23 games going into Friday’s semi-final against Cronulla.

But Taufua received a sharp jolt when he was stood down for the last two matches of the regular season and fined after pleading guilty to spitting at a police officer at a Gold Coast nightclub a year earlier.

“Its obviously been a massive learning experience for myself,” Taufua said.

“Hopefully (I’ll) maybe help players in the future with that kind of situation, help kids like myself make better choices.

“It was pretty tough for me. Those were the first games I’d missed since making my debut here.

“I learnt my lesson and suffered the consequences and just can’t wait to move forward and help others in situations like that.”

Taufua faces a very different type of challenge against Cronulla, when he comes up against Sharks winger and media personality Beau Ryan.

“The challenge is probably not to laugh at Beau Ryan. I’ll probably just try not to look at him,” Taufua said.

“In the first game (Manly played against Cronulla this season) – that’s the only time I played him – I glanced at him and he just makes me laugh, so I’ll try and keep it as serious as possible.”

Taufua, who is one try behind wing colleague David Williams, said he owed his success this season to hard work and his colleagues on the left edge of Manly’s attack – Kieran Foran, Steve Matai and Justin Horo.

“I don’t reckon I do much do much on the wing,” Taufua said.

“They provide my opportunities especially Kieran Foran and we’ve had a bond this year, our left edge.

“We just click, we know what to expect of each other.”