Grant Edward Young is a New Zealand former 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 ...

footballer who played in the 1990s, as a .

Playing career

Young grew up in

Wanganui Whanganui (; ), also spelled Wanganui, is a city in the Manawatū-Whanganui region of New Zealand. The city is located on the west coast of the North Island at the mouth of the Whanganui River, New Zealand's longest navigable waterway. Whangan ...

, shifting to Queensland when he was a teenager. He played for a local Sunshine Coast club, the

Beerwah Bulldogs Beerwah may refer to: *Beerwah, Queensland, a small town on the hinterland Sunshine Coast, Queensland, Australia, at the side of the Glass House Mountains National Park * Mount Beerwah, the tallest of the Glass House Mountains *Beerwah, Jammu and ...

, and from here made the Australian Residents side in 1994. In 1995 he was signed by the new

South Queensland Crushers The South Queensland Crushers were an Australian rugby league football club based in Brisbane, Queensland. In 1992 it was decided that the team would be admitted into the New South Wales Rugby League competition, along with three other teams, a ...

and made his first grade début in their inaugural season. He made the

New Zealand national rugby league team The New Zealand national rugby league team (Māori: Tīma rīki motu Aotearoa) has represented New Zealand in rugby league since 1907. Administered by the New Zealand Rugby League, they are commonly known as the Kiwis, after the native bird of ...

in 1996, playing in the series win over PNG and

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island and the ninth-largest island in the world. It is ...

. In 1997, during the

Super League war The Super League war was a commercial competition between the Australian Rugby League (ARL) and the Australian Super League to establish pre-eminence in professional rugby league competition in Australia and New Zealand in the mid-1990s. Super ...

, Young aligned himself with

Super League The Super League (officially known as the Betfred Super League due to sponsorship from Betfred and legally known as Super League Europe), is the top-level of the British rugby league system. At present the league consists of twelve teams, of wh ...

and signed with the

Auckland Warriors The New Zealand Warriors are a professional rugby league football club based in Auckland, New Zealand that competes in the National Rugby League (NRL) premiership and is the League's only team from outside Australia. They were formed in 1995 as ...

. He played only nine games in the

competition that year, although he again earned national selection. Alongside fellow international

Hitro Okesene John Haitrosene "Hitro" Okesene () (born 22 September 1970), also known by the nickname of "Nitro",Coffey and Wood ''The Kiwis: 100 Years of International Rugby League'' is a former professional rugby league footballer who played in the 1990s ...

Young was released by the Warriors at the end of the year. Young moved to England in 1998, joining the

London Broncos The London Broncos are a professional rugby league club in London, England. The club competes in the RFL Championship. It was a member of Super League from its inaugural season in 1996 until the end of the 2014 season, when they were relegat ...

. In 1998 he played 22 games in the

competition. However just two games into the 1999 season he broke his leg and was sidelined for the rest of the season. He did not re-sign with the Broncos for 2000, being unhappy with the contract he was offered. Instead Young returned home to Queensland and reunited with his junior club, the Beerwah Bulldogs, becoming the

player-coach A player-coach (also playing coach, captain-coach, or player-manager) is a member of a sports team who simultaneously holds both playing and coaching duties. A player-coach may be a head coach or an assistant coach. They may make changes to the sq ...

. In 2005 he moved to join the

Ipswich Jets The Ipswich Jets are an Australian rugby league football club based in Ipswich, Queensland. Their name comes from nearby RAAF Base Amberley, one of the largest airbases in Australia. The Jets compete in the Queensland Cup competition. Originall ...

in the

Queensland Cup The Queensland Cup, currently known as the Hostplus Cup for sponsorship reasons, is the highest-level regional rugby league football competition in Queensland, Australia. It is run by the Queensland Rugby League (QRL) and is contested by four ...

competition. In 2008 he returned to Ipswich to participate in the International Legends of League match.O'Davis hopes extra training gives edge
''The Queensland Times'', 17 April 2008

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Young, Grant 1970 births Living people Ipswich Jets players London Broncos players New Zealand national rugby league team players New Zealand rugby league players New Zealand Warriors players Rugby league players from Palmerston North Rugby league props South Queensland Crushers players