Canberra Raiders great Jason Croker reveals thoughts on Hudson Young's talent

It's big praise for Hudson Young from Canberra Raiders all-time-great Jason Croker.

Croker said Young was unlucky to miss out on Australia's World Cup squad last year and was hopeful he would get a call up for the NSW State of Origin side this season.

Young's returning to his home region as the Green Machine looks to string back-to-back wins together - taking on the Newcastle Knights in Newcastle on Sunday.

The Raiders chartered a flight for the game - flying up Saturday after the captain's run and returning directly after the game.

Young's scored three tries in his last three games against the Knights - with the last two from pieces of individual brilliance.

One was the match-winner at Canberra Stadium, where the 24-year-old grubbered through for himself with 90 seconds remaining.

The other, if possible, was even better - this time grubbering out of dummy half before producing a supermanesque dive to score what was effectively the match-leveller in Newcastle - with the Raiders going on to win it.

Young's one of a growing contingent of players who have slipped through Newcastle's grasp - along with Joe Tapine, Tom Starling and Pasami Saulo, while Zac Woolford played NSW Cup for the Knights and Danny Levi (jaw) made his NRL debut for them.

Maybe that's why Hudson's produced big moments against his junior club.

Croker, who played 318 games for the Raiders, said there were certain teams you'd always go well against.

He was a fan of the way Young went about his business in the second-row - the position Croker played for Canberra in their 1994 premiership.

"Just the way he competes, he's obviously aggressive, he's good with the ball, he's a good defender, he just doesn't give up on the play," Croker said.

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"So he's always working, he's just doing the little one percenters, which are the qualities that every player should have.

"You just want to play with guys like that, and he puts his all on the field."

The Canberra Times revealed Young was part of Kangaroos coach Mal Meninga's extended World Cup squad last year, but he missed out on the final cut to go to England.

Meninga was surprised Young wasn't part of Brad Fittler's Blues squad earlier in the year, but Croker was hopeful the young Raider would get a call-up for the upcoming Origin series.

"He's certainly going good and I thought he was unlucky not to be part of the Kangaroos tour last year," he said.

"He's fitted in well and he's going good.

"It'd be good to see him get in there [with NSW] because he's obviously going good - saying that there's a lot of quality backrowers out there."

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