Hudson Young Valued at $1 Million Under the Cap as Ricky Stuart Says the Raiders “Bent Over Backwards” to Keep Him
The NRL has set Hudson Young’s value under the salary cap at $1 million a season, more than the $900,000 the PNG Chiefs have offered the Canberra back-rower, the Sydney Morning Herald reported on Thursday.
On the same day, Raiders coach Ricky Stuart told ABC radio his club could not have done more to keep Young, and that his interest in the Chiefs comes down to money, Nine reported.
Why the $1 million matters
Canberra offered Young a four-year deal worth $1.1 million a season, the richest offer in the club’s history according to Nine, then withdrew it late last month after long negotiations. The NRL has still put a notional cap value of $1 million on him and will not move from it, the Herald said.
The Chiefs have said they would only go as high as $900,000 a season, because Young is 28, is coming off an Achilles injury and other back-rowers are on the market. If they sign him, $1 million still counts against their cap even if he takes less. That matters to rival clubs, which worried the Chiefs could sign players cheaply because their wages are tax-free.
“The NRL salary cap auditor and [NRL executive chairman] Peter V’landys have done the job under the salary cap rules, as I understand them,” Canberra chief executive Don Furner told the Herald. “That is fair and reasonable.”
Stuart: “We couldn’t have offered Hudson any more”
Stuart did not hold back on ABC radio. “We couldn’t have offered Hudson any more,” he said. “I mean, we bent over backwards to try and keep Hudson and it would have been unfair on the club if we had went any further.”
Asked if the move was about money, he said: “Absolutely it is.” He added: “That doesn’t bother me one bit. If Hudson wants to make that decision and take those tax-free dollars, you’ve got to understand he’s got to live in Papua New Guinea.”
Young has only ever been coached by Stuart in the NRL, and Stuart admitted the snub hurt. “I do take it personally, and I take it very personally about coaching this team, this club,” he said.
In Port Moresby this week
Young landed in Port Moresby on Wednesday to tour the Chiefs’ facilities before the club enters the NRL in 2028. He is contracted to Canberra until the end of 2027 and is recovering from the Achilles rupture that ended his season in July. He has played 155 NRL games for the Raiders since his first-grade debut in 2019, and under Stuart he became a State of Origin and Test player.
The Raiders want a middle forward and would consider releasing or swapping Young if he wanted to leave early, the Herald said. “That’s up to Hudson and his management to ask for that, but I’d definitely look at it,” Stuart told the Canberra Times.
Young is not the only big name the Chiefs have chased this month. Our report on Nathan Cleary and the PNG Chiefs covers their pursuit of the Panthers halfback, and Bradman Best is another star weighing his future.
