Hudson Young isn't a weirdo running drills alone at the park. But he does walk his dog at Giralang Oval in Canberra's inner-north and kick the footy around. "I still love mucking around with the ball, thinking about a few things, and I still love everything about the game," he says.

The 28-year-old NSW Blues back-rower, who turned 28 on Thursday, is anything but ordinary. In a modern NRL game choked by structure and set-restarts, Young plays like a forward from another era — one where back-rowers could chip-kick for themselves, throw between-the-legs passes, and run 90 metres for match-winners.

Just ask the Dragons, who saw him strip the ball one-on-one under his own posts before sprinting the length of the field to score in 2022. Or the Manly Sea Eagles, who watched him swing from Canberra's left edge to chip for winger Xavier Savage to fly over. Or the Titans, who copped a barrage of flick passes in 2022. Young knocked off both the Sea Eagles and Bulldogs in consecutive weeks last year with match-winning plays.

But there's also the madness. Young copped two eye-gouging charges in 2019, and he regularly sails close to the wind as an NRL enforcer. "What's all that magic without a little madness?" the Raiders man would probably ask.

Blues coach Laurie Daley sees shades of Wade Graham in Young — the former Cronulla captain who combined toughness with football smarts. "He's tough, knows when to carry, knows when to pass and kick," Daley says. "I think that gets underestimated in Hudson's game." Daley also compares him to British legend Brian Lockwood and a collection of old Bulldogs back-rowers like Graeme Hughes, Jim Dymock and Jason Smith — "Picassos" when it came to short-side plays, according to Andrew Johns.

Former Raiders assistant Mick Crawley revealed how Young approaches training: "He'll roll up bold as brass and shout, 'Hey Creep, I saw the opposition fullback for the coming game getting caught on the long side. I was thinking of chipping for myself and catching him out'."

That unpredictability keeps opponents up at night. Roosters leader Victor Radley says his team spent a massive part of their week preparing for Young before their 26-0 win over Canberra. "Defensively, not giving him any cues that he could pick up and try something with," Radley explains. "Because trying to rush or solve a player like Hudson solo, he's got the skills to beat you."

Young's ad-lib style fits perfectly with Raiders coach Ricky Stuart's philosophy of encouraging creativity.

In last month's Origin game one — the first 80-minute outing of his Origin career — Young was outstanding. He scored NSW's opening try from a Nathan Cleary grubber, shifted play wide for Stephen Crichton and Ethan Strange to set up the game-turning four-pointer, roamed from left edge to right, and topped the tackle count with 44. "I rely a lot on my fitness and I pride myself on not missing any moments in the game," he says.

Young's footballing roots go back to age four, running around for the Greta Branxton Colts in the Hunter region. Two decades later, he's still finding new ways to break the game open. "I might see the game a bit differently," he says. "If I see something or an opportunity, I go after it. It's just the way that I've always played."

Daley has already confirmed Young will start game two in Melbourne, after playing his seventh Origin in the series opener. The Blues need him to bring his full bag of tricks — and perhaps a bit of controlled madness — to keep the series alive.