Revealed: What ex-Huddersfield Giants star Dom Young’s went through in his move to the Newcastle Knights

Dom Young has been a Newcastle Knights player for two years.

But, what is much less known is just how the move to the NRL came about after coming through the ranks at the Huddersfield Giants.

Just a teenager, Young was identified by former senior recruitment manager at the Knights, Alex McKinnon, as one to get over as soon as possible.

“I‘d never seen Dom play live, only on TV,’’ McKinnon told the Daily Telegraph. “I didn’t have a contact number for him and I didn’t know his manager.

“One thing I liked about him in watching his videos was that in one game, someone gave it to him and he was aggressive back towards them,” McKinnon continued. “He didn’t lay down and I loved that.

“I thought that his size, his skill and athletic make-up was something that is hard to find in Australia.

“And I knew that was what we were missing. Being the Knights, historically, we didn’t get the first shot at a player with those traits.

“Those players don’t come to the Knights if they’re in Australia. So when I saw him, I thought this has to work.”

McKinnon contacted Young, but the rangy winger told him to contact his father, John, to talk.

“I made contact with John and we organised to talk on the phone around 8am Australian time,” McKinnon said.

“I’m always up at that time doing my physiotherapy and so that’s when I could chat to John about Dom.

“John is extremely intelligent and well-educated. He listened to why I thought Dom could find a home at Newcastle and credit to him for placing that trust in us.”

However, even when Young made the move to Australia, it was far from straight forward.

“For the first three months he lived out the back of my house in our granny flat – he didn’t know anyone,” McKinnon added.

“He had Christmas Eve with our family and my little girl Harriet would spend every day asking Teigan (McKinnon‘s wife) when Dom would be home from training.’’

The ex-Huddersfield man scored his fifth try in seven games against Wests Tigers last weekend and McKinnon has big hopes for him.

“I can’t see why he can’t be a cult-figure in Newcastle.

“We had Brian Carney who made really good connections in the community and I think that if you are able to maintain consistency in selection, you have a chance to really build a connection with the fans.

“And I think that’s something the fans could really get behind with Dom.