Raiders star Hudson Young is turning a career-defining moment into a thriving supplements business

Ten years after his career almost ended prematurely, Raiders star Hudson Young has launched his own supplements company to ensure rising athletes don’t make the same mistake as him.

Ten years after testing positive to a banned substance, Canberra star Hudson Young now runs a supplements company to ensure other emerging NRL stars and athletes don’t make the same mistake.

Young was just 16 years old and a rising talent of Newcastle’s junior system when a phone call one summer morning derailed his budding rugby league career.

On the other end was an ASADA official with the worst news an athlete could receive.

Young had tested positive to a banned substance and was handed an 18-month suspension, ultimately ending his time at the Knights and putting his NRL dream in jeopardy.

At the time, Young, who was promoted into the Knights’ under 18s side a year early, was struggling with an ankle injury.

But he also wanted to gain weight and muscle to help get him back to full fitness.

So Young, now 26, naively turned to a store-bought supplement.

Young appealed the ban, claiming he had unwittingly ingested the banned substance through a workout supplement.

The experience became the catalyst for ‘Young Supplements’, which the Australian Test star launched in September last year.

Hudson Young's new business venture is a supplements business inspired by his own run-in with drug testers.

“I want to create that awareness for other emerging athletes out there and athletes out there that you can fail the test, it happened to me and it can happen to you,” Young told this masthead.

“After I tested positive, the plan was always to create a business like this.

“I knew I wanted to go down that path. I wanted to create safe products that were created by an athlete for emerging athletes.”

The Australian health supplements industry is worth around $6 billion per year and products like protein and creatine powder are now staples in the diet programs of not just professional athletes, but teenage ones too.

For Young, that makes his business venture an even more personal pursuit.

One of his younger five brothers, Noah, who is also a backrower rising through the Knights ranks, is hoping to follow in his footsteps as an NRL player.

The representative backrower wants to spare Noah and others like him from suffering a similar fate.

After copping a suspension, Young wants to spare other young footballers from a similar fate. Picture: NRL Imagery

“My younger brothers always coming to me asking, ‘What should I take?’,” Young said.

“‘Should I take this? Should I take that? Or saying how, ‘The guy at the supplement store trying to offer me this. Should I take it?’

“There’s so many kids out there, and so many teenagers out there that enjoy their training and coming through the junior grades and do the right thing.

“I thought, why not create something that I know is safe for teenagers and athletes?”

Young isn’t the only high-profile athlete to find himself in trouble with ASADA.

Former NRL star James Segeyaro and swimmer Shayna Jack tested positive for banned substance Ligandrol.

Jack maintained her innocence and noted the substance could be found in contaminated supplements.

While Segeyaro, contracted to the Broncos at the time, successfully appealed to the NRL’s Anti-Doping Tribunal that he tested positive after using a housemate’s blender contaminated by the prohibited substance through a supplement the housemate had purchased.

It’s the reason Young spent almost a year working with food scientists to ensure his products were free from ingredients on WADA’s prohibited substances list.

Young spent 12-months trying to get the formulation for his products were correct and free from ingredients on WADA’s banned substances list.

“It took me about 12 months to get all the formulations correct. I went through nutritionists and had the right qualified people to ensure we used science backed evidence,” Young said.

“It actually took me a while to get all the right contacts in the industry.

“But I’m happy I didn’t rush anything and took the time to formulate products that are safe and tested by HASTA, who test for the WADA prohibited substances, and are legal to use.”

Young, whose form for the Raiders was rewarded with Test selection last year, spent the off-season juggling his Kangaroos commitments and launching this business.

The online nature of the venture means Young can focus on Canberra’s season opener in Las Vegas at Allegiant Stadium on March 2.

“I’m really enjoying the business side of it. It’s obviously a little bit different for myself, trying to run a business and play footy,” Young said.

“But I’ve got the right team around me and the right people in my corner and support from the Raiders has been really good.

“I’m just really enjoying the process and seeing what comes with it.

“Everything is online and I’ve got a warehouse in Sydney where everything is packed and shipped out of there, so everything’s pretty sorted in that regard.”

But Young’s attention isn’t only on getting Canberra’s campaign off to a winning start.

After receiving a Kangaroos call-up, Young is eyeing a NSW Blues recall. Picture: NRL Imagery

Young also has one eye on a NSW Blues recall under new coach and former Raiders legend Laurie Daley after he was axed for games two and three by Michael Maguire.

“100 per cent Origin, where I want to be and where I know I can play,” Young said.

“I know it all comes off the back of good performances at club level.

“That’s what I set my focus on, is playing my best footy for the Canberra Raiders.

“The rest takes care of itself.”

Having overcome the devastation of the drugs ban, a Blues axing was easier to handle.

“Everything that I’ve been through just created who I am today,” Young said.

“I wouldn’t change anything, the adversity that I had to face as a teenager put me in good stead for my adult career, told me, showed me how to work hard and that anything can happen and you can still chase your dreams and overcome setbacks.”

That didn’t stop Raiders coach Ricky Stuart blasted Young’s axing by NSW selectors as “disgraceful” at the time.

Stuart’s reaction was hardly a surprise to Young.

Ricky Stuart handed Young a career lifeline. Picture: NRL Imagery

The coach had saved Young’s ailing NRL career and ambitions, signing the forward to the Raiders after his drugs ban ended as an 18-year old.

“Obviously, loyalty is a massive thing in my life. Sticky (Stuart) is the same. He is loyal and passionate about his players and that players like me come to Canberra to play for him,” Young said.

The bustling second-rower also wants to repay Stuart’s support on and off the field by helping Canberra make a finals return after the side’s late season hunt for a top eight berth fell short in 2024.

Punters have already installed Canberra as a favourite for the wooden spoon in 2025.

For Young, it’s a worn out storyline.

“I think we can shock the competition. Every year everyone writes us off,” Young said.

“But we know what we’re building down here in Canberra. We don’t need to be in the public eye and the media to know what we got and what we can do.

“We know we’ve got internally and that’s the attitude we approach our football.”

“I just can’t wait to get to the trials and play some footy.”

Originally published as Raiders star Hudson Young is turning a career-defining moment into a thriving supplements business