Feeny Medal winner Ross Young is aiming to win a premiership 16 years after becoming AFL’s first mature age rookie

Ross Young turns 39 on Friday.

Yet the left-footer, who refers to himself as a “good AFL trivia question’’, continues to play football at a level that brings him accolades.

Two weeks ago, the North Central league in country Victoria counted its best and fairest, the Feeny Medal. And Young, back playing for his junior club, Donald, topped it with 25 votes, nine clear of the runner-up, to extend his remarkable record of club and competition medals.

His victory fell 39 years to the day that his father, Garry, was awarded the Feeny as a Donald player.

“He’s a handy little footballer, Ross,’’ Garry Young, 65, tells CODE Sports as he works on his 3000-acre farm at Banyena, just out of Donald, where he runs sheep and grows canola, wheat and barley.

“He just loves playing footy, mate. Can’t get enough of it, really. He’s always been the same. I didn’t know how he’d poll [in the Feeny] – you never know how the umpires look at things – but he won it by a fair bit.

“He’s not as quick as he used to be. But he still goes to the right spots and he’s always looked after himself. Pretty proud of him, actually.’’

Garry Young was a durable footballer, playing more than 400 games at Donald and Rapanyup.

His third son is proving just as lasting.

“Ross is remarkable, a freak,’’ Donald teammate Dan Venditti says. “He’s 39. And he’s still running amok.’’

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Like their father, Ross Young and his brothers Daniel, Sam and Seamus played juniors at Donald and grew into senior footballers.

Ross can recall his father winning premierships with the Royal Blues.

“I remember the guys he played with, guys like Paul Morgan and Glenn Westerland,’’ he says. “Dad moved all right. Was a good player. But Paul Morgan was my idol when I was a kid. He was a big left-footer and played full-forward. Glenn Westerland was another left-footer. He was a centre half-back.’’

Young went through the Bendigo Pioneers in the TAC Cup and then joined VAFA club University Blues when he headed to Melbourne to study engineering and science.

The slippery left-footer from the sticks quickly made his name in amateur football, winning Blues’ best and fairest in the premiership year of 2004. It led him to VFL club Northern Bullants, which was then aligned with Carlton. Across two seasons he was a senior regular for the Bullants.

And the trivia question?

At the end of the 2006 season Carlton drafted Young out of the VFL. At the age of 23, he was the AFL’s first mature-age rookie.

“Yeah, the first very one,’’ he says. “They brought in that rule where clubs could recruit older guys as rookies. I think I was 22 when I was drafted.’’

Young played six AFL games in his one season as a Blue; he appeared under the coaching of Denis Pagan, but not his late-season replacement, Brett Ratten.

“I was disappointed when they ousted me,’’ Young says. “Looking back, I probably didn’t do enough. I played OK, but at my age I probably need to do a little bit more. I didn’t have a real breakout game and stamp myself on it.’’

Young set his compass west, signing with Perth Demons for 2008. Twelve months later he joined the distinguished list of Sandover Medal winners.

Lapping up large grounds, he had a great time of it in the WAFL, winning three best and fairests, captaining the Demons and playing representative football.

Stalwart WAFL scribe John Townsend says Young was a “class above’’.

“Just found the footy. He arrived absolutely in the peak of his career, went into an OK side, had a bit of support around him and he starred,’’ Townsend says. “And like a lot of left-footers, he was so smooth. I was surprised he wasn’t picked up again.’’

Young returned to Victoria and Uni Blues for the 2013 season, winning the best and fairest.

In 2014 he signed on as captain of Richmond’s new VFL team, landing another best and fairest. Back at Uni Blues in 2015, he took the VAFA’s coveted Woodrow Medal.

Noting all of Young’s awards and honours, a VAFA scribe said that if he was to place all his medals around his neck, the weight of them would cause him to fall flat on his face.

Since his Woodrow win, Young has jumped back and forth between Uni Blues and the Donald Royal Blues.

He’s been back at Donald since last season, one of a group of Melbourne-based players. They train together in town and hit the highway on Saturday mornings.

The travelling contingent includes Venditti, who played with Young at Perth and went on to win best and fairests with VFL club Coburg; former Sydney Swans rookie James Wall; ex-Casey and Richmond VFL midfielder Rian McGough; and former Werribee VFL defender Ryley Barrack.

Some are in the west of Melbourne, some are in the east. Once a week they all head north.

It’s a long haul. But the road brings some rewards for Young.

“It’s three hours. But Dad’s on the farm, we spend time a lot of time with him, the kids absolutely love it and it gives my partner a bit of a break too,’’ he says.

“It’s almost an excuse to get up there.’’

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Ross Young started his career at Donald and he says he’ll finish it there, playing alongside Seamus, himself a well-performed player.

“Well to a degree I did a runner on them,’’ he says. “I played there when I was 16 – 2000 it was – and then my next full year with them was 2017.

“The last couple of years have been great, giving back to a town and a club that gave me so much.’’

Young’s 39th birthday comes a day before he plays in the North Central grand final at Wycheproof.

The Royal Blues meet Birchip-Watchem, coached by Trevor Ryan, who won the Feeny Medal with Birchip in 1986.

Donald’s last flag was in 2006.

No longer young, but still a formidable player, the Royal Blues’ brilliant No 7 is out to update his club’s premiership tally.

Ross Young’s mountain of medals

VAFA: 1 Woodrow Medal, 4 Uni Blues best and fairests

WAFL: 1 Sandover Medal, 3 Perth best and fairests

VFL: 1 Richmond best and fairest

North Central: 1 Feeny Medal, 2 Donald best and fairests

Premierships: 2 (Uni Blues 2004, 2019)