The Sydney Roosters have reportedly rolled out the red carpet as they look to secure Newcastle Knights winger Dominic Young as a five-way battle for the star’s services looms.
According to theDaily Telegraph’s Phil Rothfield, who discussed the report on Big Sports Breakfast, Young paid a visit to Roosters coach Trent Robinson’s house for a meal last week.
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Prior to Young’s dinner with Robinson, the England international’s manager, Mario Tartak, caught up with Roosters owner Nick Politis for coffee.
The heavy courting from the Bondi outfit has the team likely leading the race to sign Young, who is off-contract at the end of the season.
Other clubs in the mix for the 21-year-old are the Dolphins, the Titans, the Bulldogs and the Rabbitohs, with Dolphins coach Wayne Bennett and the Bulldogs’ Phil Gould showing the youngster around their respective clubs’ facilities.
Young is expected to make a decision on his next team before the 2023 NRL season commences.
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‘NO OFFERS’: GOULD’S SHOCK ADMISSION AS BULLDOGS’ RECRUITMENT DRIES UP
Bulldogs supremo Phil Gould have declared his club have no “pending offers” out to sign players for the coming seasons.
Multiple reports have linked the Canterbury-Bankstown club to a host of NRL stars, but Gould was quick to shut down and rumours.
The Bulldogs were reportedly one of the major players in the race to sign Eels playmaker Mitchell Moses before their bid was pulled according to WWOS.
Meanwhile, Knights flyer Dominic Young was also reportedly a target of Gould’s according to News Corp.
Former Panthers and Rabbitohs winger Josh Mansour was also spotted at Bulldogs training as he seeks an NRL return — but Gould has silenced all of the chatter with one tweet.
“Just for information of Bulldogs fans — despite constant media speculation, Bulldogs do not have any pending offers out for players on market to join club in 2023 or 2024,” Gould tweeted.
“No offers. We’d like to let things settle for a while and see how our youngsters perform. Thank you.”
Gould’s claim comes after the club signed Panthers superstar Stephen Crichton for the 2024 season, inking a four-year deal.
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BENNETT’S PLOY TO SECURE KNIGHTS FLYER
Wayne Bennett’s Dolphins have made it clear they are interested in signing English flyer Dominic Young.
The 21-year-old reportedly toured the club’s facilities over the off-season according to The Daily Telegraph, after the winger came off-contract on November 1.
Young enjoyed a breakout season in 2022 and scored 14 tries in 20 games, with multiple clubs interested in his services.
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Phil Gould’s Bulldogs were reportedly keen to sign him, while Rabbitohs assistant Sam Burgess also held discussions with his fellow countrymen.
Now Bennett, who has so far failed to land a marquee recruit in building his brand new Dolphins squad, has made his intentions clear.
“We are interested in him,” Bennett said to News Corp.
“He is a good athlete and has some size about him. He’s played well at Newcastle and for England.
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“He was a very pleasant and lovely guy to meet, well-mannered as you’d expect.”
Young was one of England’s best at the 2022 World Cup, scoring nine tries as the hosts crashed out at the hands of Samoa in the semi finals.
Newcastle reportedly are desperate to extend the speedster’s contract and keep him in the Hunter Region, but will have to hand him a big salary increase to retain him.
The arrival of English stars Kai Pearce-Paul and Will Pryce could sway Young to stay under Adam O’Brien.
