Young's coaching future remains up in the air after drought-breaking win

Dean Young insists he isn’t looking beyond this season and blooding players after the Dragons secured their first win of the season against the Broncos.

Young stepped into the interim head coach role at the Dragons after Shane Flanagan stepped away ahead of Round 8.

The Dragons’ premiership winner is viewed as a favourite to replace Flanagan full-time, with his spell as interim coach serving as an audition for the years ahead.

And finally, on the back of the club’s young core of forwards, including the Couchman twins, Hamish Stewart, Dylan Egan, and Loko Pasifiki Tonga, the Dragons nabbed their first win of the season, 295 days after their last victory in the NRL.

The rise of the Dragons’ young pack, plus the confirmed additions of Keaon Koloamatangi, Luke Metcalf, Phil Sami, and Scott Drinkwater in 2027, means there is reason for excitement down south, but Young is adamant his focus is on winning now, not on preparing players for next season.

“They (young players) are great, but… it's no coincidence that our more experienced players played well (against the Broncos),” Young told SEN 1170 Breakfast.

“Val (Holmes), Gutho (Gutherson), Cookie (Damien Cook), Kyle (Flanagan), Atko (Atkinson), Josh Kerr, Blake Laurie, they all did their part.

“People are saying that, ‘I'm blooding the young guys’ and stuff like that. I'm not blooding the young guys.

“I'm not worried about next year. I'm not worried about the future at the moment.

“I just want to win football games, and I'm picking the players that deserve to be picked.

“And if they're young, they're young. If they're old, they're old.

“That's my mentality at the moment, and we are in a good position because we are in a spot where we've got a lot of good young players moving forward, but that's not my focus at the moment.

“The club have been great (to me), they've been really supportive and asked what I need to make sure that I put my best foot forward this year, but it's (handling my own future) just one week at a time at the moment.”

Young edges Hamish Stewart and Dylan Egan are locked down until 2029, but Hamish Stewart, and Toby and Ryan Couchman can all negotiate with rivals from November 1.

Former Dragons prop’ Aaron Woods was one pundit to praise the Dragons for their four-point win over the Broncos at Suncorp, identifying how, while they’ve earned their spot in this side, the extra playing time will be invaluable for the club next season.

“I love what I saw from the Dragons,” Woods said on Channel 7’s The Agenda Setters.

“They've had a lot of disappointment this year, they've lost their coach.

“Watching the Couchman brothers, young Hamish Stewart, Dylan Egan… giving these young guys the opportunity to go out there and get a bit of valuable time on the field against these squads, it's gonna be better for them next year.

“The performance they put out, it was outstanding for those (boys), they've been slowly improving.”