Elijah Taylor

Elijah Taylor

Personal information
Born	(1990-02-27) 27 February 1990 Hawera, New Zealand
Height	190 cm (6 ft 3 in)
Weight	101 kg (15 st 13 lb)
Playing information
Position	Lock, Second-row, Hooker
Club
Years	Team	Pld	T	G	FG	P
2011–13	New Zealand Warriors	67	14	0	0	56
2014–16	Penrith Panthers	39	3	0	0	12
2016–	Wests Tigers	15	1	0	0	4
	Total	121	18	0	0	72
Representative
Years	Team	Pld	T	G	FG	P
2011–13	New Zealand	10	1	0	0	4
Source: [1]

Elijah Taylor (born 27 February 1990) is a New Zealand professional rugby league footballer who currently plays for the Wests Tigers in the National Rugby League. A New Zealand national representative, he plays at lock, second-row, and Hooker(rugby league)hooker and previously played for the New Zealand Warriors and Penrith Panthers.

Background

Born in Hawera, New Zealand, Taylor played rugby union as a youngster, playing for the Patea Rugby Club and representing age group teams in Taranaki, Northland and Auckland, before taking up rugby league in 2006 while studying at St. Paul's College.^[2] Taylor also attended Patea High School and Kaitaia College before moving to Auckland.^[3]

Playing career

Early career

In 2007, while at St Paul's, Taylor was selected for the New Zealand Māori under-18s side.

Taylor was signed by the New Zealand Warriors on a development contract, where he played for the Otahuhu Leopards club in Auckland Rugby League competitions and the Tamaki Titans in the Bartercard Cup. With the creation of the Toyota Cup in 2008, Taylor joined the Warriors under-20 side and in 2009 became team captain. Taylor missed only one of the team's first 46 matches.^[4] In August 2009, Taylor was to become the eighth player to make his first grade debut from the under-20 side when he was named to play against the Gold Coast Titans in Round 22, but had to withdraw from the game due to a hamstring injury.^[5] On 3 October 2010, Taylor captained the Warriors under-20s team in the 2010 Toyota Cup Grand Final match against the South Sydney Rabbitohs, where he started at second-row and scored 2 tries in the 42-26 win.^[6] Taylor finished his Toyota Cup career with 52 matches and 14 tries.^[7]

2011

In Round 4 of the 2011 NRL season, Taylor made his long-awaited NRL debut for the Warriors against the Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks, playing off the interchange bench in the 26-18 win at Owen Delany Park in Taupo.^[8][9] In Round 6 against the Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles, Taylor scored his first NRL career try in the Warriors 20-10 loss at Brookvale Oval.^[10] On 2 October 2011, Taylor played for the Warriors in their 2011 NRL Grand Final match against the Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles, starting at second-row and scoring a try in the Warriors 24-10 loss at ANZ Stadium.^[11][12] Taylor finished his debut year with 4 tries from 21 matches. Selected for the New Zealand Kiwis Four Nations squad, he made his international debut on 5 November against Wales, playing off the interchange bench in the 36-0 win at Wembley Stadium.^[13][14] Taylor played in 2 matches for the Kiwis in the tournament.

2012

Taylor finished the 2012 NRL season with 23 matches and 2 tries for the Warriors. On 13 October, he played for New Zealand against Australia in the October trans-Tasman test.^[15]

2013

On 7 March, Taylor announced that he signed a 4-year deal with the Penrith Panthers, starting from 2014, joining former Warriors' coach Ivan Cleary. Penrith Manager Phil Gould said he had, "been specifically targeted by the club, not only for his elite footballing talent, but also based on his tremendous character and leadership qualities."^[16]

Taylor during 2013 World Cup

On 19 April, he played in the 2013 Anzac Test, playing off the interchange bench in the 32-12 loss.^[17] Taylor finished his last year with the Warriors with 8 tries from 23 matches. At the end of the year, he was selected in the New Zealand 2013 Rugby League World Cup squad, scoring his first international try in the 56-10 win against Papua New Guinea at Headingley Stadium.^[18][19] On 30 November, Taylor started at lock in the 34-2 loss to Australia in the World Cup Final.^[20][21] He played in all six of the Kiwis World Cup matches.

2014

In Round 1, Taylor made his club debut for the Penrith Panthers against the Newcastle Knights, where he started at second-row and scored a try in the Panthers 30-8 win at Penrith Stadium.^[22] Taylor missed the 2014 Anzac Test through injury.^[23] In Round 21 against the Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs, he suffered a season ending ACL knee injury,^[24] limiting him to 17 matches for the season.

2015

Taylor missed the 2015 Anzac Test due to injury.^[25] Midway through the season, he was averaging over tackles a game, but was still mentally troubled by his knee reconstruction. "The lack of confidence in my knee goes to my head and sometimes it doesn't feel as strong as it should. I have thoughts of doing it again and the thought of six months of rehab again is scary, they're bad thoughts, and I won't lie they are always there in the back of my mind," he said.^[26]

In Round 20 against the Canberra Raiders, Taylor played his 100th career match and also scored a try in the Panthers 34-24 loss at Penrith Stadium.^[27] In Round 24 against the St George Illawarra Dragons, Taylor’s season was ended due to a hand injury.^[28] Taylor finished the 2015 NRL season with 20 matches and a try. On 8 September, he was named in the New Zealand train-on squad for the end of year tour of Great Britain,^[29][30] but didn’t make the final squad.^[31]

2016

Considered a potential captain for Panthers in 2016, Taylor was dropped to the NSW Cup team by new coach Anthony Griffin in favour of rookie James Fisher-Harris.^[32] On 2 May, Taylor joined the Wests Tigers effective immediately, after being released from his Panthers contract.^[33] Taylor played in 2 matches for the Panthers in 2016 before the shift to the Tigers. Taylor said, "They wanted me to be more aggressive in defence. That's what I was working on. I'm not the one to go out and put on a big shot or whack someone in a tackle. My strength is to consistently be there, wrestle and lead the line speed. But I realised I wasn't going to play first grade even though I thought I had done everything that was asked of me. I was a bit frustrated, but I'm not a person to get angry. I just wanted to play first grade again, so that's why I'm at the Tigers."^[34]

In Round 10, Taylor made his club debut for the Wests Tigers against the Bulldogs, starting at second-row in the 36-4 loss at ANZ Stadium.^[35] In his next game, he was named Man of the Match. With part of the game spent playing hooker after an injury to Matt Ballin, He made 50 tackles and set up 2 tries. Captain Aaron Woods said, "He's been really good for our defensive line as well. Just the amount of talk he brings. He's a player I'm really glad we picked him up."^[36] In the next game against the Brisbane Broncos , Taylor scored his first try for the Wests Tigers in the 19-18 victory and was named the Man of the Match for the second week in a row.^[37]

On the 21st of November 2016, Taylor resigned with the Wests Tigers on a 2 year deal that will see him at the club until 2018.

References

External links

• Wests Tigers profile
• 2016 Penrith Panthers profile