Young looking to quash disappointment of 2005

Darrell Halim reports, rising star Dean Young and his Dragons team-mates have a positive outlook for the season ahead despite the disappointing end to 2005.

Dragons rising star Dean Young

In a recent interview available from the St George Illawarra Dragons website, rising star Dean Young was positive in his outlook on the season ahead, giving Dragons fans reason to hope.

On a personal level, ‘Youngy’ experienced a breakout year in 2005, with his name being tossed around the media more than a Sunday afternoon garden salad.

His name was talked about by the media as a potential selection for the NSW side to take on Queensland in the highly-regarded State of Origin series, while also being mentioned as a possibility to join the Australian squad to tour New Zealand and Great Britain for the Tri-Nations tournament.

However, after recovering from a disappointing start to the year to become everybody’s team to beat come finals time, Young’s Dragons ended the year with a surprising semi-final loss to the eventual premiers, the Wests Tigers.

“[It was] very disappointing,” said the talented 22-year-old. “There hasn’t been too much said about it, I think it’s still in the back of everyone’s minds.”

“It wasn’t a good way to go out. It hurt more watching the Grand Final,” he added.

Despite still feeling the frustrations of such an emotionally demoralising defeat, and with the 2006 season fast approaching, it is hard to ignore the enthusiasm and maturity of the young star.

“I know all the boys are excited about playing. It’s been a long off-season but I think it’s been a very productive off-season, we’ve trained really hard,” an upbeat Young said.

“We’ve had a good off-season and we’ve learnt from our experiences.

“I think we’re better for the run (the disappointing finish to the 2005 season) and hopefully we’ll get off to a better start this year and we won’t have to dig ourselves out of a hole like we did at the start of last year.”

With regards to his own role in the team, Young acknowledges that he will bear greater responsibility after a standout 2005, but the Sydney-born forward remains level-headed about the season ahead.

“The way I look at it, I’ll just take it week by week and I think if you look too far ahead of yourself, well that’s when you start playing bad football and bad form.”

“I’ll just play it week by week and just try to play as consistent as I can and hopefully it pays off.”

When you look at the players the hardened Young idolises, it’s not hard to realise where he gets his determined on-field persona.

As a junior, he most admired Canberra’s champion five-eighth Laurie Daley. Now, as a professional player, he names widely-respected Newcastle and Australian hooker Danny Buderus as his toughest and most admired opposition player.

With the promising Dragon looking up to these sorts of leaders of the game, it is no wonder he thinks like a winner and is considered to be a future captain of the club he loves.

Young, along with the rest of his team-mates, realises that 2006 may be the final year with the current group of players boasting talent and depth all over the park, with five-eighth and skipper Trent Barrett, gifted Australian centre Mark Gasnier, hard-working prop Luke Bailey, and seasoned veteran Shaun Timmins, all likely to move elsewhere at the end of the season.

Entering the new season, Young and the Dragons won’t be content with anything less than the 2006 premiership.

“I think if we get off to a good start, hit our momentum at the right time of the season, which is at the end, we’ll be in good stead.”

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