Interim coach no more, Dean Young is now the fulltime, permanent head coach of the St George Illawarra Dragons.
Really, it's something that has been in the pipeline ever since he retired as a legend of the club and drought breaking premiership winner.
He was an assistant coach at the club under Paul McGregor, left when Anthony Griffin took over to spend time at the North Queensland Cowboys where he earnt plenty of plaudits, and then returned to be an assistant coach under Shane Flanagan, who departed the club earlier this year after a disastrous start to the campaign.
Stretching back to the days of the premiership win at the Red V in 2010, it was Wayne Bennett who indicated both Young and now South Sydney Rabbitohs assistant coach Ben Hornby would be options as future head coaches.
Young now becomes the first of the duo to do so, with Hornby having also been in the mix to return to his old stomping ground in Wollongong.
The Young appointment will be debated, but it'd be hard to argue, watching the Dragons play in recent weeks, including their hard-fought loss in Auckland over the weekend to the Warriors, that they haven't improved.
Credit has been handed to Young from inside the club, and by Scott Drinkwater who played in a system where Young was a key figure in Townsville.
But if that loss to the Warriors, and other games in recent weeks, proved anything, it's that the Dragons will be on the right path when it comes to letting their youth be the grounding of the club.
Yes, the excitement for 2027 - and reason they were able to take the go slow approach on appointing Young to the role fulltime - was because they had already done most of their recruitment.
Yes, Scott Drinkwater and Luke Metcalf will prove the attack, Keaon Koloamatangi is one of the best props in the game, Phillip Sami has been in excellent form on the Gold Coast and Connor Watson brings a tremendous amount of utility value.
But it's the young crop of forwards that will pave the way for the Dragons to build a push off the bottom of the ladder in the coming years.
And that is ultimately the reason the Dragons couldn't delay the announcement any longer.
Because the contracts of Toby Couchman, Ryan Couchman, Jacob Halangahu and Loko Pasifiki Tonga are all due to expire at the end of next year.
If you want the biggest concern right now for the Dragons, it's that.
All four of those guys - that's four out of six youngsters in the pack (the other two being the re-signed Dylan Egan and Hamish Stewart) - are free to negotiate with rivals from November 1.
There is an argument to say Toby Couchman could be an Origin player next year, while Ryan Couchman has returned from injury tremendously this year, and the duo of Pasifiki Tonga and Halangahu are also building.
Pasifiki Tonga in recent weeks in particular appears to have found full fitness and is starting to realise the potential that made him one of the stars to watch when he played for the under-19 NSW Blues outfit a few years ago.
There is probably a world where the Dragons have to let one of the six go, but that can't be the Couchman brothers.
When the Dragons do next find success, both of the brothers should be at the forefront of everything.
They bleed red and white, and their combined stats from the Warriors loss were quite unreal. They both played 80 minutes, combined for over 300 metres with 140 of those post contact, and over 100 tackles with just 2 misses.
That might have been their hardest-working game, but they have had others where they look the real deal, with Toby in particular pressing his claim to rise through the ranks of props in this competition quick smart.
What Young needs to do is show the brothers, Pasifiki Tonga and Halangahu he is the right man to find success at the joint-venture, and do it quickly.
There is absolutely zero way the Couchman bothers in particular should arrive at November 1 without new deals.
If they do, it will be a feeding frenzy.
The PNG Chiefs and Perth Bears will come to the table, and so will a host of other clubs looking to refresh their forward packs.
There is a good chance the Couchman brothers take less than market value to stay at the Dragons, but an enormous show of faith in the club's future leaders is needed now.
And for that to happen, they need to believe in Dean Young.
His first challenge isn't on the field, and it is already here.
