Jet setter Taunoa-Brown ready to make most of shock call up

Former Storm prospect Jamayne Taunoa-Brown has lived in four cities in five years but hopes his current home in Auckland will provide him with a permanent base. 

Unwanted by Melbourne and Newcastle, Taunoa-Brown landed himself a train and trial contract at the Warriors over the off-season. 

The 23-year-old prop received an unexpected boost last week when he was called into Laurie Daley's Indigenous All Stars squad for the clash on the Gold Coast.

He hopes playing in the pre-season showpiece can boost his chances of being added to the Warriors' top-30 squad.

"I just want to make the most of it," Taunoa-Brown told pan66.com.

"It will be the biggest game I'll ever play with the quality of players on the field and it's pretty much make or break for me.

"I went over to the Warriors with no guarantees. I'm looking to work hard and hopefully get rewarded for it.

"Stephen Kearney has been very helpful and making me work on the little efforts in the game and be a better player and person. I'm trying to learn as much as I can."

One of the rare rugby league players born and bred in Melbourne, Taunoa-Brown lamented not taking his chances coming through the Storm junior system. 

"I've tried to trim down [since], I'm down to 114kgs now and it's the lightest I've been for a while," he said.

"I went to Newcastle for a while and then at North Devils in Queensland but only now I've really started to focus on my weight."

The Warriors have a final trial match against Wests Tigers for Taunoa-Brown to impress.

He was limited in the club's disappointing performances at the NRL Nines in Perth.

"It wasn't what we were looking for but not a bad thing to get the cobwebs out," he said.

"I didn't think NRL was going to happen anytime soon but am lucky to get this opportunity regardless of how everything goes."