IT'S hard to picture Dean Young in any other colours but the outgoing Dragons caretaker has always accepted his coaching future may lie beyond St George Illawarra.
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The 36-year-old confirmed on Wednesday that he would not be taking up incoming head coach Anthony Griffin's offer to stay on as an assistant next year.
The offer came after the club overlooked Young, and current Knights assistant David Furner, to appoint Griffin who will now bring in an entirely new staff when arrives for the upcoming preseason.
Young moved straight into coaching at the club when chronic knee problems forced him onto early retirement in 2012, but he was always willing to move on if opportunities arose at another club.
"When I first retired I knew I wanted to be a coach and I jumped straight into it but the realisation of me staying here for my whole career, or the rest of my life, was very small," Young said.
"I knew at some stage I'd have to move on. I was either going to get sacked or the opportunity would come to go and work somewhere else. I spoke to Anthony Griffin and he was keen to keep me around but I thought it was a good time to make a change.
"I've been at this great club for 20 years now as a player and as a coach. The opportunity came up to go somewhere else and it's going to be a good opportunity for me to better myself as a coach.
"The club have been outstanding, I had a contract here for another year, they wanted me to stay, but I've told them I want to leave and they haven't stood in my way."
Young's been linked strongly to the Cowboys, but also the Knights and Tigers, saying he's yet to settle on a destination.
"I'm not too sure yet, hopefully we can get through this weekend's game and I'll know more on my future after that," he said.
"There's a couple of options, once I make the decision I'll let you know."
While he's convinced it's the right call, he said the opportunity to remain at the club he still has so much passion for and work under Griffin was a tough one to pass up.
"It was a really tough decision, what made it tougher was the fact that Anthony Griffin was signed here because I've got a great relationship with him," Young said.
"I hope he does really well and gets the team back into the finals. I think he's a great coach and it would've been great to work underneath him but the timing is right for me to go and try something different.
"For me personally it just came to a decision of whether it was the right time to leave. My three kids are excited about the change so we're going to start a new chapter somewhere else."
The Dragons have been forced into some late changes ahead of Sunday's clash with Newcastle, with Adam Clune and Euan Aitken succumbing to hamstring injuries.
It will see Ben Hunt and Cam McInnes return to halfback and hooker respectively, while Brayden Wiliame will come in for Aitken, with debutant Max Feagai remaining on the bench.
"Adam Clune hasn't made it through the week, he's had a bit of a hamstring injury, so Ben Hunt will go to the halves and Cameron McInnes will return to hooker," Young said.
"Euan Aitken was going to play but he had a bit of a hamstring issue and didn't make it to the captain's run so we've brought in Brayden Wiliame to play in the centres. Brayden hasn't played a lot of footy this year, he's been out of the side for some time, so I wanted a bit of back-up there in case we get an injury in the outside backs.
"[Feagai's] been competing hard in the conditioning games we've been playing, he's only young so I'm not expecting the world from him. He hasn't played a lot of of reserve grade or anything like that. If he gets his opportunity it won't be for long and I'm sure he'll do a good job. All the boys are excited for him because he's a real talent."