Elijah Taylor

Elijah Taylor
Elijah Taylor playing for the Junior Warriors
Personal information
Born 27 February 1990 (1990-02-27) (age 22)
Hawera, New Zealand
Height 182 cm (6 ft 0 in)
Weight 93 kg (14 st 9 lb)
Playing information
Position Centre, Five-eighth, Lock
Club
Years Team Pld T G FG P
2011– New Zealand Warriors 20 3 0 0 12
Representative
Years Team Pld T G FG P
2011 New Zealand 2 0 0 0 0
Source: [1]

Elijah Taylor (born 27 February 1990 in Hawera, New Zealand) is a professional rugby league footballer who currently plays in the National Rugby League for the New Zealand Warriors.

Contents

Early years

Born in Taranaki, Taylor attended Patea High School before moving to Northland with his family. In Northland Taylor attended Kaitaia College. Taylor was a rugby union age group representative for Taranaki, Northland and Auckland before taking up rugby league in 2006 while studying at St. Paul's College after watching Sonny Bill Williams playing for the Canterbury Bulldogs.[1][2]

In 2007 Taylor was selected for the New Zealand Māori Under-18s side.

Warriors

After Taylor was signed by the Warriors on a development contract he moved to Auckland and attended St Paul's College, known for producing rugby league talents. 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 was made the sides captain. He missed only one of the teams first 46 matches.[3] He was to become the eighth player to be promoted to make his first grade debut from the under-20 side when he was named to play against the Gold Coast Titans on 9 August 2009 however he had to withdraw from the game due to a hamstring injury.[3][4][5] He finished his Toyota Cup career with fifty two games and fourteen tries.[6]

Taylor finally made his first grade debut on 3 April 2011 when he came off the bench against the Cronulla Sharks in Taupo.

References

  1. ^ Elijah Taylor enjoying the league dream The Press, 4 November 2011
  2. ^ NRL: Third time lucky for young Taylor, by Michael Brown, April 10, 2011.
  3. ^ a b "McKinnon stood down for Titans clash". Television New Zealand. 4 August 2009. http://tvnz.co.nz/rugby-league-news/mckinnon-stood-down-titans-clash-2886808. Retrieved 29 September 2011. 
  4. ^ Johnstone, Duncan (9 August 2009). "Titans too slick for Warriors". Stuff.co.nz. http://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/league/2733979/Titans-too-slick-for-Warriors. Retrieved 29 September 2011. 
  5. ^ Setback for would-be debutant Taylor Warriors.co.nz, 9 August 2009
  6. ^ Elijah Taylor nzleague.co.nz

External links