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The way the planets appear to be aligning, Dominic Young should reach his career crossroads a couple of years from now.
That’s when he will enter the last year of his four-season deal with the Sydney Roosters, at which point he may well have to weigh up the lure of playing international rugby union for England against the possibility of creating rugby league history by finishing as the game’s greatest ever try-scorer.
Comments from Young’s agent last week, indicating that code-switching would be an option for his client down the track, should come as no surprise.
Just as he outgrew the Newcastle Knights, who brought him out from Huddersfield as an 18-year-old on the strength of two Super League games, so too is Young a real chance of outgrowing the NRL.
Dominic Young of the Roosters celebrates scoring a try. (Photo by Cameron Spencer/Getty Images)
On finances alone, it’s hard to see how the Roosters – or any club – can compete if English rugby makes a serious play for Young. He is reportedly earning around $550,000 a season from the Chooks, which is pretty close to top dollar for an NRL winger.
In contrast, the highest-paid winger in rugby union, South African Cheslin Kolbe, is rumoured to earn about $2 million a year playing in Japan.
Throw in the $50,000 match fee England players receive for every rugby union Test appearance and it’s almost a no-brainer.
Playing home games in front of capacity Twickenham crowds, international travel, genuine World Cups… there are plenty of positives for Young to consider.
It’s not hard to imagine him becoming a bona fide superstar, a household name, in his home country if he made the switch.
That’s never going to happen if he stays in rugby league, simply because it remains a niche sport, played mainly in the north of England.
The powers that be in English rugby will surely have noticed Joseph-Aukuso Suaalii’s impressive debut for the Wallabies and recognised that Young has similar athletic capabilities.
Joseph-Aukuso Suaalii sets up a try against England at Twickenham. (Photo by David Rogers/Getty Images)
The towering winger is still only 23, and could potentially cross codes at 26.
It’s frightening to think that by then he could be an even more dangerous strike weapon, as he grows in experience.
Young’s greatest attribute – his ability to get the ball over the line – is surely a transferrable skill.
He has scored all manner of tries since debuting in the NRL in 2021 – 100-metre runaways, high-flying, AFL-style marks, bulldozing power plays and remarkable contortionist displays that defy gravity, and belief.
At two metres tall (almost six foot seven, in the old scale) and 108 kilograms, Young is a physical specimen.
His long arms and legs provide unrivalled reach, and huge hands and fingers give him a vice-like grip of the ball in try-scoring situations. Sheer size allows him to carry the ball like a front-rower when the Roosters are coming off their own line.
One of the NRL’s elite speedsters, when he sees daylight, there is usually only one outcome.
Indeed, if Young does decide to stay in rugby league, I can honestly see him challenging Ken Irvine (and eventually Alex Johnston) for the all-time try-scoring record.
Consider the numbers. The late, great Irvine scored a record 212 first-grade tries in 239 games, at an 89 per cent strike rate.
Johnston is within striking distance of surpassing Irvine’s landmark tally, potentially as early as next year. He already has 195 tries in 227 games (85.9 per cent) and, at 29, he conceivably has another five or six seasons in him.
Young is still a distant speck in Johnston’s rear-view mirror, but he won’t be for long if he opts to stay in rugby league.
In his 73 top-grade games for the Knights and Roosters, he has scored 63 tries, at a strike rate of 86 per cent. That puts him on a par, at least at this point of his career, with both Irvine and Johnston.
It was a steep learning curve for Young in his first two NRL seasons, after debuting as a 19-year-old.
But after his breakout 2023 campaign, during which he scored a club-record 25 tries for Newcastle, he followed with 20 in 22 games for the Roosters last season.
He has now scored 50 tries in his past 50 NRL games. If he can continue racking up those sort of numbers for the next ten or 12 years, then absolutely rugby league’s all-time record could be in his sights.
But by the same token, the record for the most Test rugby union tries for England is held by Rory Underwood, with 49.
I reckon Dominic Young could give that record a shake too, if he puts his mind to it.
Of all the code-crossers, he could potentially be the best.
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