Money-hungry star’s admission after PNG visit
Hudson Young hopes to fulfil the final year of his deal at the Raiders, but it seems all the more likely he will depart the club to join the PNG Chiefs in 2028.
Young made the trip to Port Moresby this week to visit the country he could possibly call home if he is to commit to the NRL’s newest expansion team.
Young joined the Raiders in 2019. Paul Kane/Getty Images
The 28-year-old has remained tight-lipped on his future in the league until now, having been tabled the richest offer in the Raiders’ history – a four-year deal worth $1.1 million a season – only for that deal to be pulled by the club last week.
Raiders coach Ricky Stuart claimed the club had “bent over backwards” to keep Young, but the money-hungry forward had eyes elsewhere.
Stuart has taken Young’s decision to possibly leave his group “personally”, but the representative player has no intentions to leave the Raiders until his deal is up.
“If I do move on in 2028, I don’t want to play for another club in 2027,” Young told The Sydney Morning Herald.
“One of the reasons why I’ve done this is because I’m 28 years old, I’m single, I don’t have any family in Canberra. It’s nothing against Canberra as to why I’ve gone up there and had a look.
“Canberra is a club I love. Sticky has given me everything, he still does ... but it comes down to Sticky, it’s his team, if he doesn’t see fit for me to play at the club, I’d have to make a decision around that as well.
“It’s never crossed my mind for that to happen.”
Young did not shy away from conceding his interest in PNG is money-driven, just as his Canberra coach had told reporters last week.
The representative forward did not come from money growing up and knows how life-changing large pay cheques like the one he could receive at the Chiefs can help pave the way for a new life for any family across the world.
Young doesn’t want to keep the Chiefs waiting too longer for an answer, though.
“PNG will want a decision soon. I need to go back and speak to my family,” he said.
“It is in the back of my mind I can do two or three years, come home and be mortgage free ... there are benefits I can give my family and everyone around me.”
Canberra have pulled their contract offer to Hudson Young. Getty Images
Young knows a lot has been said by the rugby league world and also behind closed doors with the Chiefs and Raiders, but the next item to tick on his list is to make the decision on his future “and back it”.
“It’s about where do I want to be in the next stage of my life and career,” he said.
If Young, who is currently sidelined with an Achilles injury, is to put pen to paper on a deal with the Chiefs, he will like up with a cohort of big names in PNG.
Those would include his representative teammates Jarome Luai, Connor Watson, Brian To’o and Zac Lomax, while code-hopper Joey Manu has also signed.
