"He's earned it": Why Dragons chose Young over Hornby

With the Dragons locking in Dean Young as their head coach through to 2028, David Riccio and Luke Keary have backed the club’s decision to appoint him.

Having taken over as interim coach in late April after Shane Flanagan was sacked, Young has seen the side improve, resulting in two wins whilst in charge.

As a result, the Dragons confirmed on Monday that the 42-year-old is the man to coach the side for the next two seasons, having beaten out former Dragons’ teammate and South Sydney assistant coach Ben Hornby.

Speaking on the decision, the News Corp journalist noted how much this will mean to him given his previous connections to the club.

“This is a job that he desperately craved, and I believe he deserves on the basis of picking up this team in ANZAC Day week, which was just a disaster game against the Roosters and we've seen improvement, gradual improvement,” Riccio told Channel 7’s The Agenda Setters: Rugby League.

While Young ended up successful in his pursuit of the job, Riccio noted that Hornby was close to getting the job.

However, Young’s experience with club powerbrokers during his time as interim coach proved to be the difference between the two candidates.

“How Dean got over the line was the fact that he's in the four walls,” he explained.

“He was ultimately being interviewed every single day he went to work and (the) powers that be at (the) Saints liked what they saw (and) loved the changes that he's making.

“And the players also spoke so highly of him too in the adoption of change that we've seen in the past two months.”

Fellow panellist Luke Keary believed that Young did deserve the role on a full-time basis, having improved the side since he took over.

“I think he's earned it,” Keary added.

“You can see the improvement there, like we speak about the young forwards all the time.

“He says he's not building for the future, but he's put his whole trust in that pack, starts them all every single week, and you can see they're getting better and better.”

The Dragons are back at Kogarah this week as they host the Titans on Sunday afternoon.

SEN League will have live coverage of the match from 12pm AEST with NRL Crunch Time, with kick-off taking place at 2pm AEST.