Hudson Young is excited to be playing his 50th game this Friday night alongside Jack Wighton, with both men bringing up their milestone’s as one club players.
The 23-year-old back-rower has already made a big impact in his first 49 appearances for the club, scoring 10 tries and averaging 90 running metres per game.
Young said reaching 50 NRL games is something he is very proud of.
“It's really exciting, obviously a dream of mine since I was 4 years old to play one game and to be able to play 50 for this great club is a special achievement,” Young said.
Young is thrilled to be playing alongside Jack Wighton, who will line-up for his 200th game this Friday night against the Cronulla Sharks.
“Obviously Jack (Wighton) playing 200 games at one club is a huge achievement and to play alongside him is very special to myself," Young said.
“He means a lot, he's the heart and soul of the team and he was an idol of mine growing up. Being able to play alongside him gives you that extra spring and I'm sure I am not the only one that gets that feeling when he's playing.”
Young has been training on the left edge alongside Wighton and looks forward to building a combination in 2022 after spending most of last year on the right edge.
“I'm pretty happy playing on the left side this year, obviously if things change I'm happy to fill in anywhere but I've spent the preseason alongside Jack and that's where I'll be looking to stay this year," Young said.
Brad Schneider has been named as halfback for the round one clash, in what will be his first game starting in the halves after previously making his NRL debut off the bench last year. Young believes Schneider will be a great halves partner for Wighton.
“Schneider’s been awesome this pre-season so it's gonna be no different with Fogs (Jamal Fogarty) being out. It's a good experience for Schneider to play his second game.”
Young can't wait for the season opener against the Sharks at GIO Stadium on Friday and admits the team is confident after their pre-season and undefeated run in the trial matches.
“We want to focus on what we’ve been trying to work on in pre-season, after the way we trialed we are fully confident that we can get the job done on Friday night.”
