Jason Taylor (born 2 February 1971) is an Australian professional rugby league football coach and a former professional rugby league footballer who played as a in the 1990s and 2000s. He was the assistant coach of the Sydney Roosters in 2018 when the club won the premiership that year. He was also previously the head coach of the Parramatta Eels, South Sydney Rabbitohs and the Wests Tigers in the 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. Background Taylor was born in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. He 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. Playing career 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. Still a teenager, he was often called "baby-faced". In what was a poor season for the Magpies, Taylor was described as "the best of the babies" in the NSWRL for the season. 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. Ryan stated in 1993, "I've made every effort to rectify the things that were buggering him up last year. I did the same