St George Illawarra Dragons coach Shane Flanagan has backed Dean Young to become an NRL head coach, but stressed patience would be the key.
Young, a former premiership winner with the joint-venture as a player, is in his second stint as an assistant coach at the Red V, his time having been split by a stint at the North Queensland Cowboys, where he was similarly praised by Todd Payten.
The former Dragons' forward only left the Red V when he was snubbed for the head coaching duties as the club went for Anthony Griffin to replace Paul McGregor.
But Young, who has now spent time in Kristian Woolf's Tongan coaching staff, as well as recently being confirmed as a New South Wales Blues assistant coach for new boss Laurie Daley, is now back at the Dragons, and Flanagan said he was 'on the pathway'.
"He's on the pathway. It's really important for me that young coaches don't rush," Flanagan told the media.
"He's only young, if you have a bad year or things don't go your way, you're out the back door pretty quickly. He'll get his time, but you have to make sure you're ready for it."
Young has regularly had praise heaped on him by players and coaches alike, with Payten previously suggesting he would be a future head coach.
Wayne Bennett is another fan of Young, having coached him to the 2010 NRL premiership with the Dragons, and there was some talk that he may have left the Dragons to reunite with Bennett and Ben Hornby, who served as interim coach at South Sydney in 2024 after Jason Demetriou's sacking, at South Sydney.
Young was also mentioned in the running for the Parramatta Eels' top job before it went the way of another ex-Dragon in Jason Ryles.
With none of that coming to pass, Young, a proud Dragons man, will spend another season in the Red V camp, where the club are looking to qualify for the finals for the first time in seven years after impressive signs in their first campaign under Flanagan.
Second-rower Jaydn Su'A, who returned to the State of Origin arena last year, revealed Young was a big part of the reason for his own development.
"Yeah, good. Deano is the man. I feel that when he first came in, he was very tough and straightforward, and I guess I like that kind of style," Su'A said at a press conference in Wollongong.
"I feel like I'm pretty close with him now, and we have a lot of honest conversations. I felt that was a big reason for my development this year, and I feel he will do a great job.
"[As a Queenslander] hopefully not too good, but I'm excited for him."
