Former NRL playmaker Ash Taylor stars in his return for Brothers Toowoomba

Former NRL superstar Ash Taylor made his long-awaited return for Brothers in round 1 of the 2024 TRL season on Sunday. See what the star five-eighth had to say after his return to his junior club here.

Ash Taylor in action for the Gold Coast Titans in 2018.

Former NRL star Ash Taylor made his long-awaited return home at the weekend.

Back where it all began, Taylor was a standout for Brothers in their 36-24 defeat of Southern Suburbs Tigers on Sunday.

The Leprechauns’ captain-coach was immense in his side’s season-opener as he dictated the tempo and marshalled his side both offensively and defensively and was delighted to pick up a victory in his first game back.

“It was good, obviously a new team and it was pretty scrappy there but still glad we got the win, that’s all that matters,” he said.

“I’m going to enjoy it now and have a beer with the boys and celebrate.”

With both sides eager to hit the ground running in their opening TRL game of the season, Brothers stormed out of the blocks with a pair of tries inside the first 10 minutes to take the ascendancy.

“We seem to be starting well, it’s just when they start scoring points on us we got to hang in there a bit longer and we will be right,” he said.

After joining Newtown as coach in his return to the TRL in 2023, Taylor had the chance to see first hand what electric fullback Tony Clevin is capable of and it was no surprise that when Taylor made his return to Brothers, Clevin was one of his main targets to bring across.

Clevin was the star of the show for Brothers as he was clutch both offensively and defensively and has formed a lethal partnership with Taylor in the backline.

“He’s outstanding Tony, probably our buy of the season,” he said.

“I had him at Newtown and I just wanted to bring him across because I knew how much he would mean to our team.”

After a difficult few years for Brothers, Taylor was delighted to help his side start the season strongly but knows there is still plenty of work to do before his side takes on reigning premiers Dalby in round 2.

“It is a good start but we just need to keep building,” he said.

“We got a few battered boys here and back to the drawing board now and we are playing Dalby next week which is going to test us.

“I think we just need to get through this week without injuries, a fair few boys got injured again so we got to get through it and reassess on Tuesday and Thursday and see what we can come with on Saturday.”