Stuart heaps praise on 'future captain' despite sin bin
Hudson Young is a NSW Blues representative, a future Canberra captain and now the first victim of the NRL's high tackle crackdown.
The forward had an eventful evening as the Raiders rolled Cronulla 24-20 on Thursday, scoring two tries and playing a key role in Sebastian Kris's thrilling 79th-minute winner.
But until the chaotic finish, it seemed as though his performance would be soured by a sin-binning in the 58th minute for a high shot on Sharks captain Cameron McInnes.
Young admitted afterwards that he was surprised when referee Todd Smith had called him over for what seemed an innocuous challenge.
"I didn't think anything of it when I made the tackle, I don't think McInnes did either," he said.
But the punishment came days after the NRL sent a missive to clubs warning that officials were being urged to send more players to the sin bin for high contact.
"I think you can tell which ones are forceful and which ones aren't," Young said.
"I had no intent in my tackle and Cameron's not the biggest guy, but I've obviously just got to lower my contacts."
With Canberra down to 12 men, the Sharks were soon awarded another penalty for a Joe Tapine high shot and Nicho Hynes converted the resulting kick, giving the visitors a two-point advantage they held until the final 90 seconds.
Young's high tackle was one of four penalised during the game and the only one that resulted in a sin-binning.
Asked if he understood what constituted a sin bin under the new edict, Canberra coach Ricky Stuart had a one-word answer: "Nup".
But Stuart found plenty of words of praise for Young, who notched his 45th and 46th tries from 124 NRL matches - a handy return for a second-rower.
That's ✌️ for Hudson!#WeAreRaiders pic.twitter.com/iA1nlMvPsV
— Canberra Raiders (@RaidersCanberra) April 3, 2025
"It's the best start to a season Hudson's had since I've coached him," Stuart gushed.
"And his off-field manner, his leadership is very authentic. He loves rugby league, he loves the Raiders.
"He's a guy who could one day take over from Taps (Tapine) as captain if he's around that long. He's wonderful for Taps as a leader."
Young, who has played his whole career with Canberra since debuting with them in 2019, welcomed the prospect of captaining the club one day.
"It's obviously a goal of mine," he said.
"I love the club so much and all the boys here and Canberra as a place.
"But Joe's doing a tremendous job and I'm just happy to lead behind him."
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