If addressing the media for the first time as interim Dragons coach on Thursday was Dean Young's first interview for the long-term role, he passed with flying colours.
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A club great, Young was famously no-nonsense as a player and he made it abundantly clear that he'll take the exact same approach as an NRL coach.
"I'm pretty determined to do it my way, I've got six weeks now, so it's a good opportunity for myself to do things my way," Young said.
"The players know what I value, I value players who compete, I value players that are disciplined and value players who are consistent. There's no grey in that. It's black and white for me, you either compete hard or you don't, you're disciplined or you're not, you're consistent or you're not.
"It's pretty easy for me to see. I let the players know on Monday that that's what I value so now it's over to them."
Asked for the first time, but certainly not the last, whether he sees the remaining six weeks of the season as an audition for the full-time role, and he was equally direct.
"It obviously is, but I'm pretty good at staying on task so, at the moment, my focus is just on the next six weeks," he said.
"[CEO] Ryan [Webb] has been outstanding. When he asked me to take on the role, I obviously love the club and I want to help, so I jumped at the opportunity.
"He'll give me every support I need to be successful in this period. I'm going to do the best I can for the remainder of the season and then we'll cross that bridge when we get to it.
"I know it's a line I'm going to keep using but that's just what I am doing, so I'll be up front and honest with you. Ask me that question again in six weeks' time whether I want the job or not and I'll answer it then."
Young's former boss Paul McGregor was the fourth NRL coach to fall this season at a time where the men in charge have never faced more scrutiny. There's arguably never been a tougher time to throw your hat into that ring of fire and Young said it's not something he's taken on lightly.
"Every job's got it challenges but I wouldn't say there's a heap of jobs where, when the alarm goes off, people jump out of bed. That's how I feel about footy," Young said.
"I never take for granted what I do. I've been blessed to play in the NRL for a long period of time and I've been involved ever since in a few different roles.
"When I finished in 2012 and started coaching SG Ball and under 20s I thought 'yeah I want to be a head coach one day'. Once you jump into the roller coaster world of NRL life, you quickly realise you need to be ready and you need to be prepared when you get the opportunity.
"It's got its challenges but it's very enjoyable. To be honest, there were a fair few butterflies Monday morning when I addressed the staff and the players and I think that's a good thing."
There was a time taking on the Broncos in Brisbane was as tough as it gets for a rookie coach. On this occasion, the strife-torn Broncos look an easier mark, but Young said his side's season to date doesn't lend itself to complacency.
"I don't think you can be complacent when you're coming 11th," he said.
"I was really proud of the boys for their performance the other night but I'm not too sure what we're going to get tomorrow night, I don't think our fans know what they're going to get.
"That's the challenge for this group, we need to compete, but we need to be consistent. They were outstanding, they had a lot to play for because they wanted to send Mary out the right way. For us now, we need to be consistent and we need to see that again."
He also wasn't playing any ducks and drakes on team selections, confirming Paul Vaughan will start from the bench in first game back from COVID isolation, with Jacob Host to start in the back-row and Trent Merrin coming into the 17 in place of the suspended Tyrell Fuimaono.
"I like to stick with a side that gets the job done," Young said.
"That's not going to happen all the time, but I feel the blokes who started on the weekend got the job done against a stacked Parramatta side. I wanted to give them that opportunity to be consistent and deliver again.
"Paul Vaughan will come off the interchange bench. I don't want to set him up to fail by starting him in a game when he's been away from the team for the last two weeks.
"He's been hooked up on Zoom so he hasn't missed any video sessions or any meetings that we've had this week. Our performance staff have done an incredible job of making sure he's ready to play this weekend and I'll see him [on Friday] at the airport."