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Newcastle Herald
Newcastle Herald

Why the Knights' tryscoring record means so much to Dominic Young

HE'LL be leaving the club at the end of this season, but Dominic Young has ensured his name will not be forgotten any time soon by Newcastle Knights fans.

With exquisite timing, Young's brace in Saturday's 32-12 win against St George Illawarra at Kogarah Oval clinched Newcastle's all-time season tryscoring record for the Roosters-bound English winger.

Young equalled the record in Newcastle's penultimate-round win against Cronulla, joining former Kangaroos Timama Tahu (2002) and Akuila Uate (2010) on 21 tries.

He overtook them on Saturday with a remarkable, gravity-defying effort in the 76th minute, in which he somehow planted the ball one-handed in the corner, despite a Mosese Suli tackle that spun him around like a daddy-long-legs in a vacuum cleaner.

Dominic Young. Picture by Max Mason-Hubers

Three minutes later, the towering 22-year-old touched down in almost exactly the same spot with another mind-boggling piece of acrobatic magic.

Informed mid-season by the Newcastle Herald that he was on track to challenge for the record, Young then set about pursuing it.

"It felt pretty special," he said after Saturday's game.

"Obviously I've had it on my mind for a few weeks now and to finally do it, it felt really good and I'm pretty proud of it, to be honest ... when I set my mind on that record, that was obviously a goal I wanted to get."

Young said it "means a lot to me" that, after a three-season stint with the Knights, his name will remain stamped indelibly in the club's annals.

The England international said scoring tries was his "job", and while he practises his finishing skills, a lot of his success is just natural instinct.

"I've done a bit of work on that and I'm always working on my grip strength, as well," he said.

"If I'm finishing, I'll always back myself to keep the ball on the put-down, so it's about keeping my body in the field of play ... it's a bit harder when you've got size 15s near the sideline."

His wing partner on the opposite flank, Greg Marzhew, also scored a try against the Dragons to finish with 20 for the season.

The odd couple have scored more tries between them than any wing pairing in the NRL this season and Young hopes that continues in the play-offs.

"That's definitely been my main goal, to play finals with this group," he said.

"But we're not satisfied with just making the finals now."

Knights coach Adam O'Brien said Young had been "awesome" for the club this year and deserved the record.

"We'll savour every moment that we've got with him for the rest of the year.

"To have that piece of history is a real credit to him ... not many can do what he's doing there in the corner."

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