‘I’m a lot better than that’: Dom Young wanted to prove point in first game back from suspension

Roosters recruit Dom Young says he “wanted to prove a point” in his first game back for the club after he was sent off and missed two matches for an ugly high shot on Blake Taaffe that knocked out the Bulldogs fullback.

It capped a horror night for the English winger who missed two tackles, dropped a couple of balls and then had to watch on as his side fell behind 26-0 at halftime and then almost pulled off the great escape in the wet.

The ban meant Young missed the game against his old club the Knights, with the winger disappointed he couldn’t take on some of his close friends having scored a whopping 25 tries for Newcastle last season.

“It was obviously disappointing,” Young said.

“I know I’m a lot better than that, so to put in a performance like that (was tough) and I wanted to bounce back strongly and prove I belong here.

“It was one of those things. I’m a tall guy and it was obviously an accident, so I don’t think we can read too much into that. It did happen and it was my fault so I had to bounce back from it.”

It’s been a disrupted start to the year for Young who missed the opening game in Las Vegas after he was the victim of a nasty crusher tackle in the trials, but he showed just how valuable he can be with an early try on Anzac Day that gave him the boost he needed in his return.

“I think it was important for me because when I came back, I really wanted to prove a little bit of a point with my performance and to do my job right to the best of my ability.

“I thought I did OK against the Dragons, and those combinations that we’re building at training are building nicely.

“I knew what I had to do. It’s early days in my Roosters career so I’m still building, but I think we looked pretty good against the Dragons and I’m looking forward to the Brisbane game.”

The Roosters piled on 60 points against St George Illawarra, but things will get a lot harder with a trip to Brisbane this week.

The Broncos have been in ominous form, but the Roosters have already beaten them this year and showed last week just how potent their right edge is with Sam Walker, Nat Butcher, Joey Manu and Young combining brilliantly in attack.

“With Sammy and Joey, you don’t know what either of them are going to do sometimes,” Young said, with the Roosters set to take advantage of his freakish speed as the right side builds on its combinations.

“You’ve always got to expect it because they can make something out of nothing, so I’m always switched on because you never know when an opportunity might come.”