Jason Taylor (rugby league)

Jason Taylor

Taylor in 2007
Personal information
Nickname	JT
Born	(1971-02-02) 2 February 1971 (age 46) Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
Playing information
Height	173 cm (5 ft 8 in)
Weight	72 kg (11 st 5 lb)
Position	Halfback
Club Years Team Pld T G FG P 1990–93 Western Suburbs 86 6 225 12 486 1994–99 North Sydney Bears 147 32 563 20 1274 2000 Northern Eagles 17 1 38 2 82 2001 Parramatta Eels 26 8 116 1 265 Total 276 47 942 35 2107 Representative Years Team Pld T G FG P 1993 New South Wales 2 0 0 0 0 1993–95 NSW City 3 0 3 1 7
Coaching information
Club Years Team Gms W D L W% 2006 Parramatta Eels 16 10 0 6 63 2007–09 South Sydney 73 31 1 41 42 2015–17 Wests Tigers 51 20 0 31 39 Total 140 61 1 78 44
Source:

Jason Taylor (born 2 February 1971) is an Australian professional rugby league football coach and former player. He was previously head coach of the Parramatta Eels, South Sydney Rabbitohs and Wests Tigers clubs in the National Rugby League (NRL). A New South Wales State of Origin representative goal-kicking halfback of the 1990s and early 2000s, Taylor set a number of point-scoring and appearance records in the National Rugby League during a twelve-year career with the Western Suburbs Magpies, North Sydney Bears, Northern Eagles and Parramatta Eels.

Taylor spent his junior years at Green Valley JRLFC and the Ashcroft Stallions JRLFC, in Sydney's south-western suburbs. He first attended Ashcroft High School before spending his late teenage years St Gregory's College, Campbelltown.

Taylor played for Sydney's Western Suburbs Magpies from 1990 to 1993. Starting from the bench for the first 2 games of the 1990 season, Taylor spent most of the season playing five-eighth outside Ivan Henjak in what was a poor season for the Magpies.

1991 saw the arrival of coach Warren Ryan and big-name players Andrew Farrar, David Gillespie and Paul Langmack at the Magpies. Taylor, now playing halfback, lead the team to its first semi-finals in nine years after starring in a play-off for fifth spot.

Wests made the semis again in 1992, but Taylor was temporarily benched mid-season. Ongoing conflict with Warren Ryan saw Taylor seeking an early release from his contract. The release was not granted and Taylor remained for the 1993 season. Taylor said, "The press came up with some interesting reasons why I wanted to leave, but I prefer to keep most of them to myself because they have been pretty well resolved. One reason, however, was I thought our style of play was too restrictive, too structured and by the end of the year, very predictable. I wasn't the only player to think that way.