NRL strongman battle: 300kg deadlift and 210kg squats, meet the power men

He deadlifts 250kg in repetitions of three - and that’s only part of the reason Raiders teammates are in awe of their jacked, backrower from Newcastle’s coalfields.

Hudon Young says he ignores the slegdes that come his way

Hudson Young, not so long ago, was rising to play the ball for Canberra when he heard that sledge which, in various forms, has now been his for seven years and counting: “Why don’t you go get on the juice?”.

Who said it though?

Doesn’t matter.

Nor the team for whom he plays.

“Because I’m the one who made a mistake,” Young says simply.

“So I’ve got to own it.”

Which every day, he is.

A decision putting this Canberra backrower right in the mix for Rugby League’s Strongest Man.

And at 98kg.

Which to borrow a line from the late, great Darrell Eastlake, is huuuuuuuge.

Same deal, Izack Tago.

That breakout Penrith young gun whose past two years have also been spent not only owning his own issues, or making real change, but using an enforced Covid bubble to put some space between he and those mates headed for what he remembers as “a little trouble”.

“And those boys, I’ll always have love for them,” says Tago, still only 20.

“It wasn’t anything too bad, either.

Canberra Raiders forward Hudson Young.

“Just things you go through at that age.

“And they’re all back on track now anyway. But with what I’ve got here at Penrith, yeah, I just said I wouldn’t be around as much.”

Instead, Tago spends his time deadlifting 220kg in repetitions of three.

At 93kg.

Which put another way, is the equivalent of, say, Melbourne’s Nelson Asofa-Solomona lifting 300kg off the floor.

Which, just quietly, we’ve heard the big unit is capable of.

Although no one will confirm it.

With Storm performance boss Lachlan Penfold saying only that the prop is No.1 “in terms of raw strength”.

But Young?

He doesn’t even own the biggest lift at Canberra.

With that honour belonging to rising prop Ata Mariota, and a 300kg deadlift.

But still, ask any Raider for their King of the Gym and, one after another, they name that jacked, backrower from Newcastle’s coalfields.

A fella who, again at 98kg, deadlifts 250kg in repetitions of three.

Which after a little gym arithmetic we can tell you, works out to be roughly 270kg for one.

Or more than 2.7 times his bodyweight.

Which, pound for pound, is approaching that territory owned by famed Manly strongman Marty Taupau.

Izack Tago at Panthers HQ. Picture: Sam Ruttyn

Elsewhere, the Canberra No.11 also squats 210kg for three repetitions, and does as many again for a 100kg military press.

But the irony of that juice sledge?

Young’s numbers belong to a work ethic first born aged 14.

When living with his grandparents in the small, Hunter mining town of Greta, he would wake around 5am – even in winter — to drag a car tyre through neighbouring cow paddocks.

Then, he moved to workouts in the back shed.

Where using a weight bench bought from Aldi, and metal scrounged from around town, this quiet, bush kid lifted with a work ethic taught by pop Terry Martin, an underground coalminer.

Same deal dad Shane, who himself played a little footy in the Knights, then Roosters systems, while older brother Jayden was another constant motivator for a kid who never really excelled, athletically, at much of anything.

“No, never the most skilful kid,” Young recalls. “So I always wanted to be the hardest worker in the room”.

Which is how by aged 16, he signed by Newcastle.

With Young suddenly a Harold Matthews contender who was training daily, lifting heavy, and now taking a store-bought supplement which, recommended by his uncle, showed up nowhere in online searches for banned substances.

Yet just as crucially Young would learn later, nowhere was it approved, either.

Which is how this schoolboy, having done nothing but bust his arse, was unwittingly pinged by ASADA, outed for two years, and eventually spiralled far enough to spend a night in jail for vandalism.

“And having to explain all that to my little brothers,” he says, “it was the hardest thing of all”.

Certainly tougher than any drug sledge which, occasionally, may still come his way.

“Onfield banter, that’s fine,” he shrugs.

Same as Young has also moved on from those two eye gouging suspensions which cost him a place in the 2019 grand final.

But the kid dragging his tyre through cow paddocks?

He still exists in this Raider now morphing into a real edge presence, a genuine club leader, and that man he always wanted for his brothers, family and town.

“Seven years ago I made a mistake,” Young says simply. “And I’ve owned that.

“So players can say ‘go get on the juice’. Say whatever.

“I know my values.”

Same deal Tago.

That rising young Panther who, more than displaying a package all step, flick pass and jinks, also boasts a physicality to his game, a steel, which like a Tonka truck with footwork is giving the reigning premiers a new weapon nobody knew they needed.

Izack Tago offloads against Canterbury in April. (Photo by Mark Metcalfe/Getty Images)

A strength too, built on crazy routines like lifting on a chin up bar, inverting his body, then exploding through something like a push up for repetitions of 10.

Which like Young’s story, was also born in a backyard gym.

With Tago, a Cambridge Park product, and fella who still lives at home with mum and dad, initially lifting from 14 in an environment where, if equipment was missing, or simply too rusted, you turned to those greatest of replacements — body weight exercise, and repetition.

“And I guess I’ve got some natural strength,” Tago shrugs. “Because first time lifting, I thought ‘yeah, I’m OK at this’.”

Okay?

Within two years, the kid was on an elite weights program.

Although not one designed for him.

Or even boys his age.

No, the workout was for NRL middles. And specifically, older brother Jake.

That sibling three years his senior, and now with South Sydney, who was the family’s first to earn a shot at the big time.

“But he needed a training partner,” Tago recounts.

So at 16, little brother was it.

Which as already stated in this series, is not to label Tago the greatest thing to arrive out west since Krispy Kremes.

Penrith youngster Izack Tago . NRL Imagery

Nor Penrith’s Next Big Anything.

No, this is simply a celebration of lifting heavy.

Not only raw power either, but fellas like Cronulla No.9 Cam McInnes — who at 91kg deadlifts 240kg for three repetitions.

Or in Newcastle, winger Dom Young producing such power for a counter movement jump, Head of Performance Hayden Knowles admits “he almost blows up the platform”.

And who cares if, right now, Canterbury are the worst team not named Wests Tigers?

We want you to know about Bulldogs centre Aaron Schoupp squatting 270kg.

Which aged 20, is huge.

Ditto, the 275kg deadlift of winger Jayden Okunbor.

Coen Hess has reclaimed his mantle as Cowboys Strongman. Picture: Alix Sweeney

Up north in Townsville, meanwhile, Coen Hess has reclaimed three of five gym records while at Knights HQ, Tyson Frizell is benching 160kg in repetitions of three.

Back in Penrith too, Tago is surrounded by a host of big lifters including Viliame Kikau, who power cleans 140kg, and Spencer Lenui — king of the deep squat with 200kg even.

“Does it easy too,” says Tago, who interviews with all the brevity of a kid expecting to be slugged 20 bucks per word.

Which is certainly different to fellow westies like Jarome Luai and Brian Too, right?

“Ah, I’m proud of where I’m from too,” he grins. “But maybe not so extroverted.”

Same with Young.

Who back home in Greta, has found a new use for that old Aldi weight bench.

“I’ve given it to my little cousin,” he says. “So hopefully with some hard work, he can come through, too.”

Aaron Schoupp at Bulldogs training.