Dean Young (born 28 October 1983) is an Australian professional

rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as just rugby league and sometimes football, footy, rugby or league, is a full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular field measuring 68 metres (75 yards) wide and 112 ...

coach who is the assistant coach of the

North Queensland Cowboys The North Queensland Cowboys is an Australian professional rugby league football club based in Townsville, the largest town in North Queensland. They compete in Australia's premier rugby league competition, the National Rugby League (NRL). Sinc ...

in the

NRL The National Rugby League (NRL) is an Australasian rugby league club competition which contains clubs from New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria, the Australian Capital Territory and New Zealand. The NRL formed in 1998 as a joint partnership ...

and a former professional rugby league footballer who played in the 2000s and 2010s. Primarily a or , Young spent his entire playing career for the

St. George Illawarra Dragons The St. George Illawarra Dragons is an Australian professional rugby league football club, representing both the Illawarra and St George regions of New South Wales. The club has competed in the National Rugby League since 1999 after a joint-ve ...

, winning a premiership with them in

2010 File:2010 Events Collage New.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2010 Chile earthquake was one of the strongest recorded in history; The Eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland disrupts air travel in Europe; A scene from the opening ceremony of ...

, and represented

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

and

New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...

. In 2020, he was interim head coach of the

Dragons A dragon is a reptilian legendary creature that appears in the folklore of many cultures worldwide. Beliefs about dragons vary considerably through regions, but dragons in western cultures since the High Middle Ages have often been depicted as ...

and in 2021, interim head coach of the

Cowboys A cowboy is a professional pastoralist or mounted livestock herder, usually from the Americas or Australia. Cowboy(s) or The Cowboy(s) may also refer to: Film and television * ''Cowboy'' (1958 film), starring Glenn Ford * ''Cowboy'' (1966 film), ...

for one game.

Background

Born in

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

, Young played his junior rugby league for the

Dapto Canaries The Dapto Canaries are an Australian rugby league football team based in the Wollongong suburb of Dapto. The club are a part of Country Rugby League and have competed in the Illawarra Rugby League premiership since its inception in 1911. Histo ...

and attended

Dapto High School Dapto High School is a government-funded co-educational comprehensive secondary day school, located in Dapto, a suburb of in the Illawarra region of New South Wales, Australia. Established in 1958, the school enrolled approximately 900 studen ...

before being signed by the

. Young's father, Craig, played 234 games for the

St. George Dragons The St. George Dragons is an Australian rugby league football club from St George District in Sydney, New South Wales that played in the top level New South Wales competition and Australian Rugby League competitions from the 1921 until th ...

, winning two premierships, and represented

and

Playing career

In 2000, Young represented the New South Wales under-17 team while playing in the lower grades for the

Illawarra Steelers The Illawarra Steelers are an Australian rugby league football club based in the city of Wollongong, New South Wales. The club competed in Australia's top-level rugby league competition from 1982 until 1998. On the 13th of December 1980, the ...

. In Round 2 of the

2003 NRL season The 2003 NRL premiership was the 96th season of professional rugby league football in Australia and the sixth run by the National Rugby League. Fifteen teams competed, with the Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles returning in place of their failed joint ...

, Young made his debut for the Dragons against the

Parramatta Eels The Parramatta Eels are an Australian professional rugby league football club based in the Sydney suburb of Parramatta that competes in the National Rugby League. The Parramatta District Rugby League Football Club was formed in 1947, and their ...

. He became a regular of the Dragons NRL side following his debut, playing at either lock, hooker or second row. In 2006, Young was selected as 18th man for

in the 2006 State of Origin decider in

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

, but did not play. In 2007, Young played just three NRL games, missing the majority of the season due to a knee injury incurred in 2006 from a

Lance Thompson Lance Thompson (16 February 1978 – 23 August 2018) was an Australian professional rugby league footballer who played in the 1990s and 2000s. He played for St. George, St. George Illawarra and Cronulla-Sutherland. He primarily played in th ...

tackle. His recovery was further hindered by complications from surgery which was performed to address this injury. In Round 3 of the

2008 NRL season The 2008 NRL season was the 101st season of professional rugby league club competition in Australia, and the eleventh run by the National Rugby League. For the second year, National Rugby League teams, sixteen teams competed for the 2008 Telstr ...

, Young played his 100th NRL game in a 14–21 loss to the

Canberra Raiders The Canberra Raiders are an Australian professional rugby league football club based in the national capital city of Canberra, Australian Capital Territory. They have competed in Australasia's elite rugby league competition, the National Rugby ...

. In July 2009, Young signed a three-year contract with the Dragons. In May 2010, Young was selected to represent

Country A country is a distinct part of the world, such as a state, nation, or other political entity. It may be a sovereign state or make up one part of a larger state. For example, the country of Japan is an independent, sovereign state, while the ...

in the annual

City vs Country Origin City vs Country Origin was an annual Australian rugby league football match that took place in New South Wales between City and Country representative sides. The City side represented the Sydney metropolitan area. While technically it was Sydne ...

game, scoring two tries in Country's first victory since 2006. On 3 October 2010, Young started at and scored a try in the Dragons' 32–8

Grand Final Primarily in Australian sports, a grand final (sometimes colloquially abbreviated to "grannie") is a game that decides a sports league's premiership (or championship) winning team, i.e. the conclusive game of a finals (or play-off) series. Sy ...

win over the

Sydney Roosters The Sydney Roosters are an Australian professional Rugby league, Rugby League Football Club based in the Eastern Suburbs (Sydney) and parts of inner Sydney. The club competes in the National Rugby League (NRL) competition. The Roosters have won ...

. In November 2010, Young was selected in the

Australian Australian(s) may refer to: Australia * Australia, a country * Australians, citizens of the Commonwealth of Australia ** European Australians ** Anglo-Celtic Australians, Australians descended principally from British colonists ** Aboriginal Au ...

squad for the Four Nations, making his Test debut in a 34–20 win over

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

. In 2011, Young represented

for the first time, starting at in their 12–16 Game I loss to

Queensland ) , nickname = Sunshine State , image_map = Queensland in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Queensland in Australia , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , established_ ...

. On 10 April 2012, Young announced that he would retire at the end of the

2012 NRL season The 2012 NRL season was the 105th season of professional rugby league club competition in Australia, and the first run by the newly formed Australian Rugby League Commission. The main competition, called the 2012 NRL Telstra Premiership due to spon ...

. In Round 15 of the 2012 season, Young played his 200th NRL game in a 20–28 loss to the

Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs The Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs are an Australian professional rugby league football club based in Belmore, a suburb in the Canterbury-Bankstown region of Sydney. They compete in the NRL Telstra Premiership, as well as competitions facilita ...

Coaching career

In 2013, Young coached the

SG Ball Cup The S. G. Ball Cup is a junior rugby league football competition played predominantly in New South Wales, between teams made up of players aged under 19. Teams from Canberra and Melbourne (Victoria Thunderbolts) also participate. Prior to the C ...

side. In 2014, Young and former teammate

Ben Hornby Ben Hornby (born 18 February 1980) is an Australian former professional rugby league footballer who played in the 2000s and 2010s. An Australia international and New South Wales State of Origin representative back, he captained the St George Il ...

were named co-coaches of the Dragons' under-20s team. They finished 4th and made it to the preliminary finals. In 2015, Young became an assistant coach for the Dragons'

side, under head coach Paul McGregor. In 2019, Young worked as an assistant coach for the Tongan national team. In February 2020, he was an assistant coach for the Indigenous All Stars team. On 13 August 2020, Young was named interim head coach of the Dragons after Paul McGregor resigned mid-season. Following the club's round 17 loss against North Queensland in the

2020 NRL season The 2020 NRL season was the 113th season of professional rugby league in Australia and the 23rd season run by the National Rugby League. Teams The lineup of teams remained unchanged for the 14th consecutive year. ; Notes : : : Pre-season ...

, Young called out his players during the press conference saying "Same shit, different day," Young said. "It went wrong in blokes not getting their jobs done. Again, for the second week in a row, the game was there to be won in the last five minutes which is what this club wants to be about. "We want to be fighting for the full 80 minutes, right to the death". On 16 September 2020, Young informed St. George Illawarra that he would be leaving the club at the end of the

season A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperate and pol ...

, despite being offered a position alongside incoming head coach Anthony Griffin. Following the club's round 19 defeat to

Newcastle Newcastle usually refers to: *Newcastle upon Tyne, a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England *Newcastle-under-Lyme, a town in Staffordshire, England *Newcastle, New South Wales, a metropolitan area in Australia, named after Newcastle ...

where the Red V lost 42–18, an angry Young spoke to the media saying “We wouldn’t have beaten Dapto the way we played in the first half. It was Under 8s stuff". In Round 20 of the

, Young guided St. George Illawarra to a 30–22 victory over a depleted Melbourne at

Kogarah Oval Jubilee Stadium, also known as Kogarah Oval or by its sponsored name Netstrata Jubilee Stadium, is a multipurpose stadium in Carlton, New South Wales, Sydney, Australia. The stadium is mainly used for rugby league and the A-League, and is one ...

in his last game in charge as interim head coach. At the end of the season, Young signed a three-year deal with the

, joining the club as an assistant to incoming head coach

Todd Payten Todd Payten (born 18 January 1979) is an Australian professional rugby league coach who is the head coach of the North Queensland Cowboys in the NRL and former professional rugby league footballer. As a player he played as a and forward for ...

. He coached the side for one match in Payten's absence, due to him being deemed a close contact of a confirmed

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was COVID-19 pandemic in Hubei, identified in Wuhan, China, in December ...

case.

References

External links

Dragons profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Young, Dean 1983 births Living people Australia national rugby league team players Australian rugby league coaches Australian rugby league players Country New South Wales Origin rugby league team players New South Wales Rugby League State of Origin players Rugby league hookers Rugby league locks Rugby league players from Sydney Rugby league second-rows St. George Illawarra Dragons coaches North Queensland Cowboys coaches St. George Illawarra Dragons players Tonga national rugby league team coaches