2021 in review - Hudson Young

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greeneyed
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2021 in review - Hudson Young

Post by greeneyed »

2021 in review - Hudson Young

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Now it is season over for the Canberra Raiders, we're reviewing the year of all 31 players who pulled on a green jersey in first grade in 2021. So far, we've looked at the season of Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad, Xavier Savage, Caleb Aekins, Jordan Rapana, Bailey Simonsson, Semi Valemei, Harley Smith-Shields, Sebastian Kris, Jarrod Croker, Curtis Scott, Matt Timoko, Jack Wighton, Sam Williams, George Williams, Matt Frawley, Josh Papalii, Joseph Tapine, Emre Guler, Sia Soliola, Ryan James, Dunamis Lui, Josh Hodgson, Tom Starling and Elliott Whitehead.

Hudson Young made 19 appearances in 2021, 14 in the second row, four on the bench and one at lock. With the departure of John Bateman, he hoped to nail down a spot as Elliott Whitehead's back row partner.

"From the start of the pre-season my goal was to try and lock down an edge spot," Young said back in March, when he re-signed with the Raiders to the end of 2024.

"I've been training that edge. I've started a little bit in the middle previously, but mainly edge at the moment. I played edge all through 20s and younger grades so I'd say I'm more of a natural edge player than a middle but I feel comfortable at lock as well."

He ended up sharing those duties with Corey Harawira-Naera this year - and it was a real battle between the two.



Harawira-Naera ruled himself out of the contest for the No. 11 jersey in Round 1. He was suspended for the first two matches of the year due to a Christmas drink driving incident - and he then started his year in NSW Cup. That saw Young starting in the second row in six of the first eight rounds, missing one game due to a slight knee injury in Round 3. Good NSW Cup form saw Harawira-Naera force his way into the starting team in Round 7 - and he held down that spot for a good three months.

By Round 12, Hudson Young found himself on the reserves list. Young was not recalled until the Round 17 clash with the Sea Eagles - after Elliott Whitehead was ruled out with a shoulder injury. He was subsequently a regular feature in the starting team - and displaced Harawira-Naeara from the starting second row in the Round 21 clash with the Dragons. He stayed there for the final five games, with Harawira-Naera suspended for three weeks for a high shot on Storm half Jahrome Hughes.

I rated Young 6.6/10 on average through the season (6.7 in 2020) and an "8" in five matches. He's retained his season rating of 7/10. He twice won "man of the match" honours in Fans' Choice voting - for the Round 1 win over the Tigers and the Round 5 loss to the Panthers. He also picked up points against the Knights in Round 20 and the Storm in Round 22 - and finished seventh in the final count. His top running metres (178) came against the Warriors in Round 24, while he posted his top tackle count in the win over the Eels in Round 19.



Young averaged just under 60 minutes on the field in 2020, but lifted that to just under 70 this year. He ranked first among the Raiders forwards for line breaks and tries scored, and was equal third, with Harawira-Naera for try involvements. Young was second only to Jordan Rapana at the club for tackle breaks (64, compared with 26 in 2020). He lifted his offloads to 15 (six in 2020) - though he only produced one try assist and one line break assist. All round, he has more flair in attack than the average forward. He ranked fourth among the Raiders forwards for average running metres (up slightly, to 90 per game) - behind Josh Papalii, Joe Tapine and Ryan Sutton. His average metres per run rose slightly (from 7.6 in 2020 to 7.9 in 2021).



In defence, Young averaged 30 tackles per game (27 in 2020), ranking equal second amongst the Raiders forwards. His tackle efficiency rate was around the same as last year (89 per cent). On a per game basis, he ranked fifth for missed tackles and fourth for ineffective tackles among the Green Machine forwards - and his try cause and line break cause counts rose. Then again, it is tough defending on the edges - and Canberra's defence all round was poor in 2021.

Young had a tough time settling into first grade, with discipline his biggest issue. But all that is now well and truly behind him. There is debate about whether Young is at his best on the edge or in the middle. In my view, he handles both very well. Regardless, I think he's definitely in the Raiders' best 17 in 2022.

With Sia Soliola's retirement, and the departure of veterans like Dunamis Lui and Ryan James, the club's young forwards will need to step up next season. Hudson Young's 2021 provides a great platform for the 23 year old to do just that.

How did you rate Hudson Young's 2021? Tell us below.

Hudson Young's 2021: 7/10

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2021 Statistics: (Stats from Fox Sports Lab)
Games: 19
Average minutes: 67
Points: 20
Tries: 5
Try assists: 1
Try contributions: 2
Total try involvements: 8
Total kicks: 5
Kick metres: 65
Forced line drop outs: 1
Kicks dead: 1
Total runs: 215
All run metres: 1706
Average metres per carry: 7
Average metres per game: 90
Tackle breaks: 64
Offloads: 15
Line breaks: 6
Line break assists: 1
Tackles: 570
Average tackles per game: 30
1 on 1 tackles: 42
Missed tackles: 42
Average missed tackles per game: 2.2
Ineffective tackles: 22
Tackle efficiency: 89 per cent
Try causes: 9
Line break causes: 11
Errors: 17
Penalties conceded: 10
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Billy Walker
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Re: 2021 in review - Hudson Young

Post by Billy Walker »

I suspect 7/10 will draw some grief but I like the lad. Maybe 6.5 but I’m not outraged by 7 but suspect other might be.
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Re: 2021 in review - Hudson Young

Post by BadnMean »

First full year of FG (or even reggies) he's ever had to string together without lengthy suspensions and he really hit a slump in the middle.

Either side of that he was ok. Looks a bit like a robot being taught to pass by AI but that's not his strength.

6.5 tops. I mean he was poor enough for 3-4 weeks to get dropped, then out for 6 weeks, but he manages to overcome all that and come out a rosy 7? I'm not sure that adds up.
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Re: 2021 in review - Hudson Young

Post by Seiffert82 »

I'm a fan of Hudson Young. I love his aggression and I think he has a bit of footwork and ball playing ability in him. Can find the tryline too. I thought he had a great end of 2020 and did an admirable job at the start of the season.

Early on I got a bit sick of hearing that every good run he made was a classic front rowers line, but that had no real bearing on how he was actually going out there.

My biggest gripe on his season were a few pretty big lapses in defence throughout the season. Players miss tackles - that's a given - but some of his misses seemed to be lapses in focus or something. Sometimes just flat out bad attempts.

Dunno. Solid season from him. I hope he steps up in 2022 as he can be a real asset to this team.

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Re: 2021 in review - Hudson Young

Post by Raiders_Pat »

I think Hudson Young sits in the category where he's not a starting calibre player but a good interchange contributor / injury cover, and somebody you'd want in your squad provided you're paying him on the lower end of the top 30. My only gripe is that he showed lots of promise on debut but has not shown all that much improvement. He's still only 23 though. But he's the type of guy that you don't spend too much on and you'd let walk if he found better money elsewhere. He shouldn't be starting next year unless injury forces our hand imo. He was very fortunate to have a proper chance to nail down a position this year. He had plenty of opportunities to stake his claim and didn't earn a starting spot in the end.
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Re: 2021 in review - Hudson Young

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Seiffert82 wrote: October 14, 2021, 4:11 pm I'm a fan of Hudson Young. I love his aggression and I think he has a bit of footwork and ball playing ability in him. Can find the tryline too. I thought he had a great end of 2020 and did an admirable job at the start of the season.

Early on I got a bit sick of hearing that every good run he made was a classic front rowers line, but that had no real bearing on how he was actually going out there.

My biggest gripe on his season were a few pretty big lapses in defence throughout the season. Players miss tackles - that's a given - but some of his misses seemed to be lapses in focus or something. Sometimes just flat out bad attempts.

Dunno. Solid season from him. I hope he steps up in 2022 as he can be a real asset to this team.

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He was caught napping quite a few times in defence. Hudson Young was my favourite rookie before this year and I rated him the highest of all our young forwards. He was given a real opportunity to step up and show what he can do with extra minutes this year, but didn't really show all that much in the end. We will see how he goes next year but I've definitely lowered my bar for him.
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Re: 2021 in review - Hudson Young

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No more than a 6 from me. He is a small forward attempting to do big body things by throwing himself at the opposition line. He has some footwork but put it in the cupboard for some reason. He has a fair number of missed tackles and ineffective tackles. I want to see improvement in 2022.
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Re: 2021 in review - Hudson Young

Post by greeneyed »

But in the end he did get back the starting spot (before Harawira-Naera was suspended). I think people might be forgetting that he put in some very good games. He improved almost all of his stats... except tackle efficiency down from 90 to 89 per cent... and just about the only area which declined was the missed tackles.
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Re: 2021 in review - Hudson Young

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greeneyed wrote: October 14, 2021, 4:36 pm But in the end he did get back the starting spot (before Harawira-Naera was suspended). I think people might be forgetting that he put in some very good games. He improved almost all of his stats... except tackle efficiency down from 90 to 89 per cent... and just about the only area which declined was the missed tackles.
Him getting his starting spot back speaks more of our coach's selections than his form imo. There's no way Harawira-Naera should have been benched for him. I was quite annoyed about it at the time.
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Re: 2021 in review - Hudson Young

Post by Matt »

Raiders_Pat wrote: October 14, 2021, 4:43 pm
greeneyed wrote: October 14, 2021, 4:36 pm But in the end he did get back the starting spot (before Harawira-Naera was suspended). I think people might be forgetting that he put in some very good games. He improved almost all of his stats... except tackle efficiency down from 90 to 89 per cent... and just about the only area which declined was the missed tackles.
Him getting his starting spot back speaks more of our coach's selections than his form imo. There's no way Harawira-Naera should have been benched for him. I was quite annoyed about it at the time.
CHN is the best edge player we have. He is built for the modern game. But Rick wants to play grind ball in an era of attack
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Re: 2021 in review - Hudson Young

Post by Matt »

Im still not sure Huddo is an edge. I still see a mobile middle. That said, sounds like Hodgo is gone, so our best backrow is probably CHN, Huddo and Whitey at lock.
6.5-7 for mine.
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Re: 2021 in review - Hudson Young

Post by Botman »

Really didnt kick on the way i expected him too
Think part of that was being played out of position, but as i've said in almost all of these threads... almost none of our players were at their best this year.

Big year for him in 2022. Cant live on that back end 2020 performance for another year.
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Re: 2021 in review - Hudson Young

Post by Canberra Milk »

He didn't kick on and actually was pretty ordinary to start the year, especially his tackling. His back half was better though. Something to build on. I have confidence in him, he's a key part of the pack for mine
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Re: 2021 in review - Hudson Young

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Canberra Milk wrote:He didn't kick on and actually was pretty ordinary to start the year, especially his tackling. His back half was better though. Something to build on. I have confidence in him, he's a key part of the pack for mine
From memory he was very good in the first 4 rounds or so, polling very highly in GH POTY points and quite possibly earning Dally m points, then his form dropped off until the end of the season.
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Re: 2021 in review - Hudson Young

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gergreg wrote: October 14, 2021, 6:54 pm
Canberra Milk wrote:He didn't kick on and actually was pretty ordinary to start the year, especially his tackling. His back half was better though. Something to build on. I have confidence in him, he's a key part of the pack for mine
From memory he was very good in the first 4 rounds or so, polling very highly in GH POTY points and quite possibly earning Dally m points, then his form dropped off until the end of the season.
Yeah it was a middle slump- like I said he's never had to do a full season of senior footy until now.

He definitely has the ability- just a few rough edges and needs some stickability.
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Re: 2021 in review - Hudson Young

Post by gerg »

BadnMean wrote:
gergreg wrote: October 14, 2021, 6:54 pm
Canberra Milk wrote:He didn't kick on and actually was pretty ordinary to start the year, especially his tackling. His back half was better though. Something to build on. I have confidence in him, he's a key part of the pack for mine
From memory he was very good in the first 4 rounds or so, polling very highly in GH POTY points and quite possibly earning Dally m points, then his form dropped off until the end of the season.
Yeah it was a middle slump- like I said he's never had to do a full season of senior footy until now.

He definitely has the ability- just a few rough edges and needs some stickability.
I vaguely recollect he suffered a 'sternum' injury (?) early in the year which may have affected his form. Maybe I'm remembering incorrectly? Though the slump coincided with the team slump and the clear player discontent, so difficult to put it down to one factor.
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Re: 2021 in review - Hudson Young

Post by Seiffert82 »

BadnMean wrote: October 14, 2021, 7:40 pm
gergreg wrote: October 14, 2021, 6:54 pm
Canberra Milk wrote:He didn't kick on and actually was pretty ordinary to start the year, especially his tackling. His back half was better though. Something to build on. I have confidence in him, he's a key part of the pack for mine
From memory he was very good in the first 4 rounds or so, polling very highly in GH POTY points and quite possibly earning Dally m points, then his form dropped off until the end of the season.
Yeah it was a middle slump- like I said he's never had to do a full season of senior footy until now.

He definitely has the ability- just a few rough edges and needs some stickability.
Yeah, I suspect that was a big factor.

His best games were definitely the first few rounds when he really grabbed CHN's spot. Then he just faded. It did look like the grind got to him during the middle of the season.
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Re: 2021 in review - Hudson Young

Post by BadnMean »

gergreg wrote: October 14, 2021, 9:40 pm
BadnMean wrote:
gergreg wrote: October 14, 2021, 6:54 pm
Canberra Milk wrote:He didn't kick on and actually was pretty ordinary to start the year, especially his tackling. His back half was better though. Something to build on. I have confidence in him, he's a key part of the pack for mine
From memory he was very good in the first 4 rounds or so, polling very highly in GH POTY points and quite possibly earning Dally m points, then his form dropped off until the end of the season.
Yeah it was a middle slump- like I said he's never had to do a full season of senior footy until now.

He definitely has the ability- just a few rough edges and needs some stickability.
I vaguely recollect he suffered a 'sternum' injury (?) early in the year which may have affected his form. Maybe I'm remembering incorrectly? Though the slump coincided with the team slump and the clear player discontent, so difficult to put it down to one factor.
Did he? I didn't account for that. Would make sense with his defence suddenly being off when he normally hits well.
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Re: 2021 in review - Hudson Young

Post by afgtnk »

Back to where he was best in late 2020 please - coming off the bench and into the middle against tiring forwards. Should only be playing on the edge if we're hit with injuries.
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Re: 2021 in review - Hudson Young

Post by Roger Kenworthy »

On the bell curve he was a 4, and that might be generous.
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