Carlton draftee Flynn Young opens up on Dom Brew’s words of inspiration and his rapid rise from local footy in past 18 months
Dom Brew is state league footy’s ultimate hardluck story. Yet the Werribee leader’s tough love helped inspire the rise of Carlton’s newest player, with one quote motivating him every single day.
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Flynn Young has a quote from inspirational Werribee leader Dom Brew on his bedside table down in Ocean Grove.
‘No one remembers the bloke who quit’.
Brew has heartbreakingly never reached the pinnacle of AFL footy himself, falling short at the last hurdle during the supplemental selection period with the Western Bulldogs this pre-season.
But state league footy’s ultimate hard luck story can lay claim to getting Tigers teammate Young drafted at the age of 23.
“He’s instilled belief in me from the day I walked in the door at Werribee. I don’t know what he saw in me early on, but these past few years, he’s been massive for me,” Young told this masthead.
“I definitely wouldn’t be here without him.
“He just said something that’s stuck with me, ‘No one remembers the bloke who quit’. So that’s a little quote that I have got written on my bedside table just to remind me.
“I didn’t want to be one of them blokes that looks back at their career on this time and in 20 years and says, ‘Oh yeah, I could have made it to the next level’. I just wanted to get everything possible out of myself and leave no stone unturned and not quit.
“Obviously there’s been some tough times on and off field sort of throughout the past few years, but just his main message was just stick at it, stick fat. If you keep just showing up, getting better every single day, the rewards will come.”
Those rewards came in spades when the powerful small forward was left stunned when he heard his name called by Carlton at pick four in AFL mid-season rookie draft on Wednesday night.
Young had met with Carlton and Essendon ahead of the intake but had no promises ahead of the draft.
He bumped into Ocean Grove export Sam Walsh when he was in at Ikon Park last week – where Young had won a premiership with Werribee eight months earlier.
“He was wrapped for me that I was getting interest and he made a comment at the end, ‘Hopefully we’re teammates next week’, and that gave me full body shivers and goosebumps. That’s where it really sunk in that it could become a possibility,” Young said.
Hidden camera captured Young and his family erupting into tears of joy on draft night – and his brother elated in a Bali villa – with the video going viral on social media.
"I DID IT! Oh my God." ðŸ˜
— Carlton FC (@CarltonFC) May 28, 2025
Flynn Young's reaction to getting drafted to the @AFL will tug on the heartstrings 💙
... and then his brother's reaction in Bali tops it off 😅 pic.twitter.com/qEbKSh0Hos
“Yesterday was a really long day at work,” Young said.
“So to just hear my name and see my name pop up on the screen, it was just pure shock and elation. Knowing all the work that has been put into it, an amazing feeling.”
It is a far cry from how the Barwon Heads Football Club product was feeling back in 2023.
By his own admission, he was struggling in Geelong local footy for his new club Newtown & Chilwell, let alone VFL for Werribee.
He was in a rough place off the field and his mental state and injuries played a toll on him.
“I could barely get a kick at Newtown. But there was a few other things off field, was going through a bit of a rough period,” Young sad.
“It was nothing major, just mentally probably wasn’t in the best space. And then was rocking up to play footy just for the sake of it, wasn’t really fully invested and just had no drive to get better.
“But I knew deep down something inside, I just had that burning desire that I had more to give and I just didn’t want to sell myself short and yeah take the easy road out.”
Young was at a crossroads after he managed just two VFL appearances in the 2022-23 seasons with Werribee as he weighed up leaving the program and returning to local footy for good.
That’s when Brew stepped in with some tough love.
“At the end of the 2023 season, we had a big chat, and he said... ‘Mate, you’ve got so much talent, you just need to put the foot down and work a bit harder’,” Young said.
“We just sort of sat down and said, I can keep going through the motions and I won’t play much, or I can actually crack down and give it a red hot crack and see what I can do at the level.
“And then since then just gone to work. Sometimes when I didn’t believe in myself, he was the one in my corner backing me in, so it was just massive to have a role model like him to instil belief that I am capable to be a good VFL player.
“Obviously the rewards came last year with capping it off with a flag, and now being on the (Carlton) list, it’s unbelievable.
“If you had told me back then when I could hardly get a kick down at Newtown that I would be on an AFL list in a couple of years, it’s crazy.”
Former Newtown & Chilwell coach Damien McMahon saw his struggles first-hand.
He sees similarities in Young’s rise to his new Carlton teammate Alex Cincotta, another Newtown & Chilwell sensation whose own dream looked over after an ACL blow.
“Really excited for him and a testament to sticking at it. He had some down moments in 2023 where he was pretty flat and things weren’t working out for him and probably felt like the world was against him a little bit,” McMahon said.
“It’s quite interesting that he joins a club that Alex Cincotta joined a few years ago as well. Another guy that had a very similar road being drafted.
“Let’s hope that the two of them can be playing alongside each other at some stage this year.”
‘SCARED TO SAY IT’
Young took Brew’s advice on-board and started the Geelong league season with a bag of seven goals against North Shore in a thumping win.
The 181 centimetre forward was held goalless the next week before a dominant display of nine majors in a thumping win over fellow GFNL lower ranked side St Albans, earning him a call-up for Werribee.
“He obviously went in full of confidence, he kicked goals from all over the ground in both those games and had a real confidence about him, based on the work he’d done over the pre-season,” McMahon said.
“Matt Dowling was one of his coaches at Werribee, he was a coach that I’d worked with at Newtown, and he was really complimentary of how hard he’d worked and how much his running and testing had improve through that period of time at Werribee’s pre-season.”
Young hit the scoreboard with two goals in his VFL return, but he found himself out of the side again the next round.
But yet again, the improved Young showed he was clearly too good for community footy with a five-goal haul against Lara to make it 21 goals in four matches for the Eagles.
It proved to be his final game at local level as he became a consistent member of Werribee’s side, all the way through to their grand final triumph.
Then came another defining conversation with his parents late last year, where he revealed he wanted to get even more serious about reaching the AFL ranks.
Young knew it would come at a cost, but he was willing to do whatever it takes.
“It’s obviously always been my dream to play AFL, but I guess I’ve been scared to say it in a way out of fear of what other people might think and doubters not thinking it is possible or whatever,” Young said.
“2023 I had a big offseason and obviously took some big steps, but then in the offseason playing against AFL guys a lot during the year, I felt like I was capable of matching it with the best.”
“That’s when I sat down with mum and dad in the preseason and just said, ‘This is what I want to do’.
“We spoke about the cost of being all in, you might lose some friends or be misunderstood or whatever, but as long as I had belief and just tried to get better every single day - early mornings extra craft sessions at Werribee, they’ve been massive for me, and then on off nights trying to do what I can to get better.”
Those extra hours honing his craft paid off as he took his game to another level in 2025.
The icing on the cake came in Young’s final mid-season audition in round eight, where he booted three goals along with 20 disposals and nine marks in his most complete performance at VFL level.
TWO MATES TAKEN IN THREE PICKS
Remarkably, two best mates were drafted out of the same forward line within three selections on Wednesday night.
Young’s small forward partner in crime Zac Banch became a Roo with pick two in the mid-season.
Both have similar stories and setbacks. Banch was cut from Williamstown after two VFL games in 2023 and made his Bees debut in round eight of 2024 – the same week Young was recalled - and also never looked back.
This duo 🖤💛
— Werribee FC (@WerribeeFC) May 29, 2025
Now they are AFL players! 🤩
🔗 Read about Zac Banch and Flynn Young’s journey to the AFL 👉 https://t.co/oYhuc02DwLpic.twitter.com/xi95EkD2V9
Eight mature-age talents have now been added to AFL list off the Werribee production line since 2023, with Shaun Manangh and Sam Clohesy (2023 draft), Riley Bice and Aidan Johnson (2024), and Jack Henderson (2025 SSP) also making the grade.
Young suspects Werribee coach Jimmy Allen will be thrilled for more reasons than one to see him and Banch achieve their AFL dream.
“It’s crazy, it’s a bit of a running joke around the club. Banchy’s my best mate at Werribee and we do everything together on training and game days, can’t really separate us - Jimmy the coach, he’s sick of us,” Young chuckled.
“But to see him go before me was just unreal, he’s worked so hard.
“He’s a similar path to me, got cut by Willy and then came to Werribee, played in the flag, so it’s funny looking back on that.
“But just so happy for him and to be able to share it with him as well is just awesome, so we legit do everything together.”
The pair have the tools to play right away for their clubs, who are both in need of quality small forwards.
If their meteoric rise continues, look out.
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Originally published as Carlton draftee Flynn Young opens up on Dom Brew’s words of inspiration and his rapid rise from local footy in past 18 months
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