Gold Coast Titans half Ash Taylor to embrace family as he works way back to best form

ASH Taylor says he learnt plenty about himself after hitting a rough patch this season and has vowed to bounce back from the worst games of his young career.

ASH Taylor says he learnt plenty about himself after hitting a rough patch this season and has vowed to bounce back from the worst games of his young career.

Taylor was honoured to have played in Johnathan Thurston’s final game on Saturday and will take a leaf out of his idol’s book and use the love of his family to help drive him next season.

The Titans half finished the season on the up, showing glimpses of the form that had him rated a State of Origin contender ahead of Game Three.

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Ashley Taylor (left) has vowed to regain his best form ahead of the 2019 season. Photo: AAP

It came after patch Taylor conceded included the worst games of his career as he failed to cope with the pressure of running the Gold Coast team.

“It was a tough season, a lot of expectation and I didn’t really come up trumps,” he said.

“But I’m going to learn from it and come back even stronger next year.”

While an off-season of hard work is on Taylor’s agenda, so is time with family.

“For me, I think I pushed my family aside a bit this year, whether I shouldn’t have, I learnt that this year,” Taylor said.

“Family is everything and I took it for granted.

“I just want to keep giving back to my family and keep being there for them when they go through tough times.

“They’re always the first ones to message me when I’m having a tough time.

“I love my family to death and I wouldn’t be here without them.”

Taylor said his struggles had only made him stronger.

“You can’t always ride that high rollercoaster, you’re going to have a few bad games, so hopefully I’ve got those out of the way now and I can just get back into the pre-season and put in the hard work with the boys and the coaching staff,” he said.

“That little patch of two or three games was probably the worst I’ve had in my career. People have such high expectations but don’t really know what you’re going through when you go through those low points.

“It’s been a learning curve for me massively and I’ll benefit from it.”

While his season has only just finished, Taylor is already eyeing a “massive” off-season after a short break.

Phillip Sami of the Titans celebrates a try with team mate Ash Taylor. Photo: Getty Images

“Just to get me back on track to where I want to go,” he said.

“I want to represent my state, I want to represent my country, hopefully, in the coming years, so I’ll have to be at my best.

“I was playing good footy until I had that little lapse, so I don’t want to have that lapse again in my career.

“I think I can take myself to another level in fitness and strength and individual targets that I’ve set myself.

“I can hit them sometimes but not all the time and that’s what I want to do every game.”