Craig Young

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Craig Young (born 1957 in Wollongong, New South Wales) was a representative Australian rugby league player for the Australia national rugby league team, the New South Wales Blues and a stalwart player over 11 seasons from 1977 to 1988 with the St. George Dragons in the NSWRL premiership competition. He played at prop-forward.

[edit] Early sporting success

Young had a strong grounding in the sport of soccer as a youngster and might have followed in his father's footsteps and turned professional (his father Bob Young represented Australia). His brother Warwick was a goalkeeper who played state league soccer for the Wollongong Wolves and for St George. At the age of 16, Craig was playing for Bellambi in the Illawarra soccer competition while he was also competing for Corrimal in rugby league. League eventually won the battle and Young was selected to tour Great Britain as an Australian schoolboy in 1972. The tour shot Young and several other players to notoriety when they remained undefeated throughout.

[edit] Club career

Young's signature was chased by several clubs but the St. George Dragons eventually secured his services. In his 1977 debut season coach Harry Bath claimed Young was destined for a great future and in that same year Young was instrumental in helping the Dragons take the premiership title.

In 1979 Young was awarded captaincy of the Dragons side and at 22 years of age led the side to its 15th and most recent title. He captained the side through tougher times up till 1988 including the 1985 Grand Final loss to Canterbury Bulldogs. In his final 1988 season the Dragons won the mid-week Panasonic Cup competition.

After his retirement Young took up a coaching role at the Dragons but his stay only turned out to be brief and he was replaced by Brian Smith at the beginning of the 1991 season. He has returned to the Dragons Coaching Staff as the Recruitment Manager under Nathan Brown, and appears set to continue in this capacity following talks with Wayne Bennett about players for 2009.

[edit] Representative career

He was selected for the 1978 Kangaroo Tour and played in all five Tests and eleven Tour matches. He was named "Player of the Tour".

He first represented for New South Wales in 1979, making five appearances under the old selection rules. He was selected for the Blues in the first ever State of Origin fixture in 1980 and made four further State of Origin appearances up till 1984.

On the 1982 Invincibles Kangaroo Tour Young in played in five of the six Tests as well as six Tour matches. His final national representative selection was at the Sydney Cricket Ground for the 1st test of the domestic Ashes series against Great Britain in 1984.

[edit] Post playing

He had a brief stint as St George coach in 1990 before being replaced by Brian Smith. He had a "minder" role with the Blues squads in recent years when the side was coached by Ricky Stuart, has been the Dragons Recruitment manager under Nathan Brown and continues to own,with his son Brad Young, the Unanderra Hotel, 15 minutes south of Wollongong. The Hotel, which was built in 1956, has an estimated market value in excess of $15 million dollars. He is the father of current Dragons player Dean Young.

[edit] External links

• Craig Young at eraofthebiff.com

Craig along with his sons, Brad Young and Dean Young own the Unanderra Hotel, 15 minutes south of Wollongong

The Youngs purchased the Hotel in 1991 the year after Craig was sacked as coach of the Dragons