Nayah Freeman crossed for a first half hat-trick to help Young to a 26-0 lead at the break.

While Albury got on the board first through Curtly Jenkinson, the try did little to show Young's charge.

Coach Nick Hall was pleased to start the season with the 54-10 victory.

"I'm happy we went on with the job," Hall said.

"We looked professional and pretty organised most of the time and I think all the sides this weekend will be better for having a game or two under their belts.

"It's great and traditionally it's really hard to go down to Albury and win for Young."

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Freeman capitalised on plenty of opportunities to make the most out of his return to first grade.

He was one to impress in a good day for the club.

"Across the side we've got lots of guys who can score tries and Nayah is the perfect finisher out there," Hall said.

"He's starting to make a nice combination with Ben McAlpine out wide and Mitch Cornish outside him.

"They looked very dangerous on the left."

The trio of Cornish brothers also impressed in their first game for Young.

Mitch Cornish crossed for two tries in the win, and controlled the clash with his kicking game, Tyler Cornish created plenty of headaches at the back, including scoring a runaway try, while Nick Cornish also scored.

Jake Walker was also strong coming off the bench with Young getting through the clash unscathed.

Albury coach Adrian Purtell is looking for a better effort from his side when they face Southcity on Sunday.

"There were some effort areas that let us down, like kick chase, where one side of the field's chasing and the other's not pushing up," Purtell said.

"Dropped balls you can handle a little bit, but the effort was probably the most disappointing (aspect of the game)."

The visitors blew the home team away in the opening stanza, before the Thunder struck back in the early minutes of the second half, with Purtell picking up a loose ball and delivering a clever over-head pass to Curtly Jenkinson, who had a narrow corridor to scoot down the wing.

However, the mistakes which had cruelled the club's chances early quickly returned.

"You've got to try and find some positives moving into next week, towards the back end we started to move the ball around a little better, including our short passing game," Purtell offered.

"We started to go through them a little better, but we probably didn't roll our sleeves up enough in that first half, playing some smart, grinding footy."