Young captain to lead youthful
Dragons against Eels

The St.George Bank Dragons will field one of their youngest sides ever and their youngest captain for their round 11 clash with the Eels at Parramatta Stadium on Friday night.

Dean Young, 20, who made his NRL debut last year and has played 32 first grade games, will captain the side in the absence of injured captain Trent Barrett (hamstring) and past stand-in skippers Shaun Timmins (Origin), Ben Hornby (Origin) and Lance Thompson (shoulder).

Young (20 yrs and 205 days) is the fourth youngest first grade captain in the NRL and the youngest since Phil Gould in 1978 ? Dave Brown (Easts), 19 yrs and 12 days, 1932; Phil Gould (Penrith), 20 yrs and 103 days, 1978; and Bob Fulton (Manly), 20 yrs and 120 days, 1968.

Young?s father Craig Young was St George captain off and on from 1978-88 including the 1979 premiership winning team. The side Dean Young will captain on Friday night features three NRL debutants ? Daniel Holdsworth, 20; Bryan Norrie, 20, and Aaron Wheatley, 22 ? with a team total first grade experience of 627 games.

Of the debutants, Holdsworth is a St George Jersey Flegg player who had his first Premier League game for the Dragons off the bench last week against the Bulldogs; while Norrie and Wheatley are second and first year Premier League players for the Dragons respectively.

The previous youngest team fielded by the Dragons was against the Warriors in round 15, 2002, at Ericsson Stadium ? they had played a total of 588 first grade games. The Dragons have been forced to call on their young players in the absence of 13 players with 1096 first grade games of experience ? four are on Origin duty and nine on the injured bench.

NRL (Rd 11)

Coach: Nathan Brown

1. Clint GREENSHIELDS 2. Andrew FREW 3. David HOWELL 4. John CARLAW 5. Reece SIMMONDS 6. Daniel HOLDSWORTH 7. Mathew HEAD 8. Nathan LONG 9. Mark RIDDELL 10. Justin POORE 11. Ben CREAGH 12. Tony JENSEN 13. Dean YOUNG (c) 14. Ashton SIMS 15. Bryan NORRIE 16. Aaron WHEATLEY 17. Lincoln WITHERS Premier League (Rd 11): Coach: Michael Potter 1. Nick YOUNGQUEST 2. Reece WELLINGTON 3. Shaun VIDITO 4. Beau SCOTT 5. Wes NAIQAMA 6. Aaron BEATH 7. Lachlan RUSSELL 8. David TANGATA-TOA 9. Aaron GORRELL (c) 10. Michael HENDERSON 11. Stacey KATU 12. Corey PAYNE 13. Michael HOWELL

14. Brett WHITE 15. Jarrod DYKES 16. Jason ELLEM 17. Wade HUMPHREYS