“NOBODY mentions the bloke who quits.”

It was 18 months ago when everything changed for Flynn Young - but then everything really changed on the night of the 2025 AFL Mid-Season Rookie Draft.

In May of 2024, Young was playing for Newtown & Chilwell in the Geelong Football League, but it was clear that the penny had dropped earlier than that. After two games in two seasons for Werribee, hauls of nine, seven and five goals in the opening four rounds of the GFL season set Young on quite the course.

It was a week after that when Young was recalled to the Werribee side - incidentally, for the game against the Carlton Reserves - which kickstarted a string of 24 games which yielded a VFL premiership and now a spot on the Blues’ list.

Speaking at his new home of IKON Park on Thursday morning, Young hailed the influence of a state-league star at Werribee that set the wheels in motion for his meteoric rise.

“Dom Brew is the one who got me here - there’s no Flynn Young if it wasn’t for Dom Brew,” Young said.

“After 2023, we had a tough conversation about where I was at - it was either go back to local footy and find my love for the game, or stick at the VFL, really knuckle down and work hard. That’s what I did.

“I’m reaping the rewards of having him in my corner, backing me in and telling me to never give up, never quit - because you never know when your time will come.”

That time came on Wednesday, when Young’s name was called out at pick No.4 - prompting celebrations which well and truly did the rounds on Carlton’s social media channels.

For the disability support worker in Geelong who had cemented himself as a key part of Werribee’s all-conquering VFL side, it continued a crazy ride where the shock of Wednesday soon turned into the realisation of Thursday.

“Everyone at work are all rapt for me, the group chat has been going off. The boss texted me saying good work and I said ‘I won’t be in tomorrow’ - he said he figured!

“It’s crazy to think that I could’ve been waking up this morning driving to work, but now I’m here at Carlton.”

Young arrived at IKON Park in tow with Mum and Dad, who - along with his two brothers and his sister - Flynn said he owed a great deal for the sacrifices they made.

For the Ocean Grove locals, they’ll be comforted by the knowledge that a fellow local boy will be there to support the newest Blue: that being Carlton co-vice captain Sam Walsh, whose younger brother Henry played with Young for the Geelong Falcons.

“It was pretty surreal to get a FaceTime call from Sam: I saw him last week when I was doing my tour of the Club, I ran past him in the corridor and he said ‘hopefully we’re teammates next week’.

“For it to come true, I feel like it’s a joke. I just can’t believe it, it’s crazy.”