The St George Illawarra Dragons have moved to hand themselves protection in Dean Young's new contract, with an option in their favour revealed for an extra year.
Young has been the interim coach of the Red V since Shane Flanagan was sacked in the first third of the season, and while the ladder won't show it, the playing group have shown some signs of improvement under the former premiership winner.
The Dragons were able to take their time going through the process of signing a coach given most of the recruitment work for 2027 has already been done, with Scott Drinwkater, Luke Metcalf, Keaon Koloamatangi, Phillip Sami and Connor Watson all locked into the club.
The brass at the Red V also only gave Young a two-year contract - a move that could have been viewed as a surprise.
There is a common thought in rugby league circles that a coach shouldn't be judged until they are three years in, but with recruitment positive and Young having a large chunk of this season to begin to put his processes together, the Dragons felt two years was enough to lock themselves into to start with.
News Corp have revealed though that if things are going well, the club have given themselves an option to extend his time in Wollongong through to the end of 2029 with a club option.
The option is not believed to have any performance based triggers, and will be instead down to the Dragons as a club to determine if they want to take it or not.
It's understood however that if Young makes the finals next year with the wooden spoon bound Dragons of this year, that the option is a guarantee to be taken up, with a contract extension also likely.
Young, who is an icon of the Dragons, was in the mix alongside Ben Hornby and other candidates, but his work and public backing from both current players and recruits won him the right to land his first fulltime permanent position.
The former lock and dummy half will be under pressure from the get-go to bring success to a fan base who have been starved of it since Wayne Bennett left at the end of 2011.
The Dragons have played in the finals just twice since then, while they have gone through four coaches - Flanagan most recently, but before that, Anthony Griffin, Paul McGregor and Steve Price.
