roopy wrote:Dom Young has worked really hard at the Knights.
He famously had to do hotel quarantine when he arrived and came out of an air conditioned hotel where he wasn't able to train to a training session in 40 degree heat, and nearly killed himself trying to keep up.
Last year he was making the firstgrade side on pure natural talent, but really struggled to complete 80 minutes, even as a winger. He'd only do 4 or 5 solid runs a game and struggled to catch his breath for the rest of the game.
This year he is one of the fittest and does far more than his share of kick returns and he draws a lot of penalties by struggling to get to his feet for a fast play the ball.
We brought over Dom Young and Bailey Hodgson and everyone said Hodgson would be the best of them.
Hodgson arrived with a knee injury and was sent for surgery after a couple of weeks of trying to train. When he came back from that he had about 4 games of reserve grade and broke his elbow. 6 months and several setbacks later he came back in under 20s and managed about 3 pretty ordinary games before re-breaking his elbow.
Dom Young = best buy in years
Bailey Hodgson = worst buy in years, but it will be nice if he gets a bit of luck next year. He trains his heart out by all accounts.
Thanks for that insight roopy.
Dominic always was a fit, strong and athletic player. He had the natural athleticism needed for the game anyway but always always trained hard. He always had the natural ball playing skills needed too, but still continued to work on those. The area he needed to work on when he left was his on field decision making, and that’s what you get from playing at the top level week in week out. I’m really pleased for the lad. No other youngster as a back has managed to do what he has done so all credit to him.
