NRL: Dragons coach Dean Young thinks in-game rest for hooker Ben Hunt could unlock his best

Ben Hunt has excelled at hooker for St George Illawarra, but interim coach Dean Young believes he can be even better with a spell during matches.

St George Illawarra hooker Ben Hunt could be rested at stages throughout Friday’s clash against the Gold Coast Titans. Photo: Cameron Spencer/Getty Images.

St George Illawarra interim coach Dean Young has revealed he plans to rest hooker Ben Hunt at stages through Friday’s game against the Gold Coast in a bid to make him a more dangerous player.

Young commended Hunt for his successful switch to hooker at club level but believes he could be even more potent with a spell on the sideline.

It’s why the Dragons mentor has chosen rising hooker Billy Brittain on the bench as cover for his starting No.9.

“It isn’t easy in the middle when you are the size of Cam McInnes or Hunty,” Young said.

“You’ve got 115 kilo bodies running at you for 80 minutes – it takes its toll.

“I think if we can find Hunty a spell, then we are going to find even better footy out of him.

“He is playing some good footy at the moment, but I think it will improve if we can find him a spell somewhere.”

Dean Young fields questions from the media on our Round 16 clash with the Titans 🐉 #redv pic.twitter.com/rPfPPX1VDs

— St George Illawarra Dragons (@NRL_Dragons) August 27, 2020

Young is equally confident in Brittain, the reigning Canterbury Cup player of the year who after being let go by South Sydney last year was offered a four week train-and-trial deal by the Dragons.

“Billy is everything that I love in a player,” he said.

“He rocks up to work every day, he rips into his training and he competes hard.

“Billy has earned his right through training to come on to the interchange bench and show me what he has got.”

The Dragons will be without representative prop Paul Vaughan after he copped the early guilty plea on a grade one crusher charge and has been suspended for two weeks.

Vaughan was placed on report midway through the first half of the Dragons‘ tight win over Brisbane last Friday night for a tackle on Broncos winger Richard Kennar.

Young concedes the Dragons will miss their Blues Origin bookend, but he has challenged other players to step up in his absence.

“It isn’t ideal having Tariq, Korbin (Sims) or Vaughan out, but that just creates an opportunity for someone else to go in and there and do their best,” he said.

“Vaughany missed two weeks, we get him back for a week and now he is gone for another two.

“But with the NRL sending out emails to all the clubs about cracking down on those sorts of (tackles) it wasn’t worth the fight and the chance of missing him for three weeks.”

With St George Illawarra still an outside chance of making the finals, Young declared he will focus on the present.

The Dragons are four points outside the top eight with five regular season rounds remaining before the finals.

“I’ll be picking the best available team to go out and win the game and I won’t be looking towards the future,” he said.

“Down the track my thoughts on that might change but mathematically we can still make the finals, so I’ll be picking the side to get the job done.

“I suppose if we win every game, we are a chance but that seems like a fair way away at the moment.”