Young fired in unanswered 44 points to surprise Gundagai and show their Group Nine premiership credentials with a 44-16 win at Alfred Oval on Sunday.
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The Tigers were up 16-0 after 10 minutes and looked to they were going to continue to roll through the Cherrypickers.
However, once possession evened up Young started to get on top.
They should have gone into the break in front, however some poor goal kicking and a missed chance late saw the Tigers take a 16-14 lead at half-time.
The first 20 minutes of the second half was a tight tussle before the Cherrypickers blew the game wide open.
Off the back of a penalty, when Young captain-coach James Woolford was deemed to have been tackled when chasing through his own kick, Tui Samoa charged over to put his team in front for the first time.
Off the restart Ray Talimalie broke through two tackles before going 70 metres to score.
Four minutes later, Aaron Slater charged over to put the Cherrypickers up 32-16 with 14 minutes left.
Casey Wall made up for a missed opportunity in the first half when he scored off a clever Woolford kick to seal the win.
Talimalie put the icing on the result as he plucked an intercept to score his second long range try of the half.
After feeling unlucky not to come away with the two points in the draw with Southcity last week, Woolford was impressed with his team’s fighting qualities.
“I couldn’t be prouder of my boys after being 16-0 down against a team like Gundagai,” Woolford said.
“I’m stoked for the boys, they deserved it.
“We didn’t have much ball and shot ourselves in the foot early, but to our boys credit they turned up and turned up all day.”
Despite trailing early, Woolford was confident his team could come back.
The loss knocks the Tigers off the top of the ladder.
They now trail Southcity by one point, with Young a further point behind.
Woolford believes the team is headed in the right direction.
“We are improving every week,” he said.
It was all Gundagai to start the game.
Luke Berkrey scored off his own charge down two minutes into the clash before James Smart went over after a strong run after a repeat set and then before Dylan Cole found himself in plenty of space.
Young had only had the ball once in the first 10 minutes.
Jesse Corcoran put the Pickers on the ball when he scored off his own clever little kick before tries to Woolford and Thomas Bush closed the gap.
They would have been in front only for Talimalie missing both his conversion attempts from virtually in front.
Young also scored the win with a very youthful back line.
Riley Manwaring, Wall and Jacob Hardy all come into the team for the clash and performed well.
Will Scott was another big in for the team after missing against the Bulls last week while Hayden Cowled, Kyle Richens and Aaron Slater were strong up front.
The Tigers are out to regroup against Kangaroos on Saturday while Young want to go into the bye well against Junee.
