Hayden Young

Hayden Young (born 11 April 2001) is an Australian rules footballer who plays for the Fremantle Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL).

Early life and career
Drafted with the 7th selection in the 2019 AFL draft from the Dandenong Stingrays in the NAB League, Young is the younger brother of the North Melbourne player Lachie Young. He was considered to be one of the best kicks in his draft class. He attended high school at Mornington Secondary College.

AFL career
Young made his AFL debut for Fremantle in the long-delayed second round of the 2020 AFL season at The Gabba against Brisbane, as a late replacement for Nathan Wilson. Young only played five games in 2020 due to an ankle injury sustained during Fremantle's clash against St Kilda.

In 2021, he played the opening three games before a bad hamstring injury kept him out of the team for most of the year. He returned in round 19, before playing the best game of his career in Fremantle's upset win over Richmond in round 20 and received the Rising Star nomination.

The 2022 AFL season saw Young play a career best 22 games, highlighted by multiple 31 disposal performances against St Kilda, Richmond and Hawthorn. Young kicked his first goal in round eight during Fremantle's 78 point win over North Melbourne. He signed a four-year contract extension mid-season tying him to Fremantle until at least the end of the 2027 season. He was one of Fremantle's better players during their elimination final against the at Optus Stadium collecting 28 disposals.

Prior to the 2023 AFL season, Young was promoted to Fremantle's leadership group. Late in the 2023 season against at Kardinia Park, Fremantle opted for a strategic move by deploying Young, a young defender at the time, to tag midfielder and Geelong captain Patrick Dangerfield. The move would prove to be successful with Young collecting 19 disposals whilst also quelling Patrick's influence. He played a similar role the following week when he was sent to tag eventual 2023 Brownlow Medalist Lachie Neale, restricting him to 25 disposals. The round 22 Western Derby saw Young spend the entirety of the game in the midfield, collecting 25 disposals and a game-high eight inside 50's in what was a 101 point thumping over the Eagles.

After a strong pre-season Young was named on the extended interchange for Fremantle's opening game of the year against the. Young was impressive collecting 24 disposals and a game-high 10 tackles in the 23 point come from behind win. He collected a game-high 32 disposals two weeks later in round 3 against at Optus. Arguably his best game of the season so far was against at the MCG, he had 30 disposals and kicked two late last quarter goals in the 54 point win. He finished the match polling a perfect 10 coaches votes.

Statistics

 * Statistics are correct to the end of 2023

! colspan=3| Career ! 57 !! 2 !! 3 !! 747 !! 424 !! 1171 !! 330 !! 162 !! 0.0 !! 0.1 !! 13.1 !! 7.4 !! 20.5 !! 5.8 !! 2.8 !! 10
 * 2020 || || 26
 * 5 || 0 || 0 || 33 || 17 || 50 || 16 || 7 || 0.0 || 0.0 || 6.6 || 3.4 || 10.0 || 3.2 || 1.4 || 0
 * 2021 || || 26
 * 8 || 0 || 0 || 85 || 42 || 127 || 45 || 19 || 0.0 || 0.0 || 10.6 || 5.3 || 15.9 || 5.6 || 2.4 || 0
 * 2022 || || 26
 * 22 || 1 || 1 || 306 || 196 || 502 || 164 || 50 || 0.0 || 0.0 || 13.9 || 8.9 || 22.8 || 7.5 || 2.3 || 5
 * 2023 || || 26
 * 22 || 1 || 2 || 323 || 169 || 492 || 105 || 86 || 0.1 || 0.0 || 14.7 || 7.7 || 22.4 || 4.8 || 3.9 || 5
 * - class="sortbottom"
 * 2023 || || 26
 * 22 || 1 || 2 || 323 || 169 || 492 || 105 || 86 || 0.1 || 0.0 || 14.7 || 7.7 || 22.4 || 4.8 || 3.9 || 5
 * - class="sortbottom"
 * - class="sortbottom"
 * }

Notes