Amid the sea of Newcastle red and blue and Penrith black at Sunday’s Preliminary Final epic, a cluster of Dragons began the next phase of their leadership journey.
A contingent of the club’s emerging leaders, including Dylan Egan, Hamish Stewart, Ryan and Toby Couchman, Jacob Halangahu and Kade Reed, took time out of their off-season break to travel to Homebush alongside Dean Young and experience the 57,102-strong crowd first-hand.
The group witnessed the clamour of the crowd, the ferocious flag-waving, and the gladiatorial intensity that characterises rugby league on its biggest stage.
It marked the latest step in a series of initiatives designed to develop the club’s next generation of leaders, who have already spent time being mentored by former players and professionals.
The continued development of the young group, which also includes Loko Jnr Pasifiki Tonga and Daniel Atkinson, has been a focus for Young since he was named the club’s Head Coach in July.
“That’s where we want to be,” Young said of the trip.
“I wanted the players to see the difference in intensity between a regular season game and a finals game – that was the idea behind it. It was a great day. Obviously, the spectacle was unbelievable and watching the boys get excited by the crowd and the atmosphere of playing at that time of year was great. I’m sure it had an impact on them.
“That’s where we want to be. I wanted the players to see the difference in intensity between a regular season game and a finals game.”
Dean Young
“You want to be out there, and you want to be a part of it. You want to be playing at this time of the year. I took a lot out of it myself, but I must admit, I sat there with a bit of jealousy.”
Nurturing the club’s next generation of leaders has been high on Young’s priority list since he took the job, as he balances the side’s short-term ambitions with its long-term development.
“We’ve got the foundation of a really good future leadership group,” he added.
“It’s my job to help develop them, and that means investing time in that space. Having homegrown products means a lot, but when you’re selecting emerging or senior leadership groups, it’s not selected based on where they come from – it’s selected based on their potential to influence the playing group and on the way they’ve behaved prior to being put into that group.”
Having spent the past two seasons under the guidance of Damien Cook and Clint Gutherson, the group has also seen first-hand the standards and expectations that come with being a first-grade footballer.
“For the boys to watch Cookie and Gutho go about their business the last couple of years in their different styles has been beneficial,” Young said.
“As a club, we were lacking in that space, so they were specifically signed to bring leadership, and both have a different style of leadership. Every leader’s got their own way of leading, and you need to make sure you’re playing to your strengths as a leader.”
An added benefit of being on hand was witnessing a battered Knights outfit qualify for their first Grand Final in a quarter of a century, just 12 months after finishing 17th – a demonstration of how quickly fortunes can change in the NRL.
“The people and areas we represent are similar,” Young said.
“They’re hard-working – that’s the core of the people that live in those places. Full credit to the Knights and the way they’ve gone about their season, but for us, it’s not about trying to replicate what Newcastle have done. It’s about making sure that we’re being true to ourselves and we’re setting up the foundations to turn this club into a successful organisation again.”
With a host of new names set to join the club in November, excitement is building among the Red V faithful.
But Young insists any turnaround will be built on the work the squad puts in throughout the warmer months.
“The young group we’ve got are excited about the players that are walking through the door, but we know that six players are not going to change the whole situation at this club,” he said.
“We all need to play our part in that. We’ve all got a lot of hard work, education, and development in front of us and I want to make sure we are enjoying the journey together. I’m excited to start that process in November.”
