Young, who could play both ends of the ground, began his league career at Richmond and made his debut in the 1989 VFL season.
[1] A St Arnaud recruit, he missed a total of eight games in 1990 through two separate suspensions, for kneeing in round one and striking later in the year.
After his fifth season with Richmond, Young left the club and was selected with pick 20 by Kevin Sheedy's Essendon in the pre-season draft.
After a 19 disposal effort in Essendon's one point preliminary final loss to Sydney in 1996, Young suffered a series of injuries in 1997 and 1998 which limited his appearances.
[2] Young, who had eight visits to the AFL Tribunal during his career, left Essendon after failed contract negotiations and was picked up by Hawthorn for the 2000 season with the sixth selection of the pre-season draft.