They say a week is a long time in sport and the past week certainly has been that at the Knights.

After what has obviously been a poor month, we felt that changes were needed for a multitude of reasons, but the comings and goings of last week, even took some of us involved in them a little by surprise.

First, I would like to take the opportunity to thank the departing players for their efforts this season.

Damian Ball, in particular, has been outstanding for the Knights this year.

Damian knew about Hull KR's long-standing interest but, to be honest, he was very happy where he was. In the end, we felt the deal was a good one for the club, both in the short and longer term. Damian will benefit financially from the deal so, in the end, it was a fairly easy deal to agree.

Which brings me on to our new signings.

Dean Andrews, Craig Farrell and Adam Sullivan made an immediate impact for us in what, I felt, was one of our best performances of the season against Barrow on Sunday.

It was the end of a strange week as none of the deals went through until late Friday, so we didn't have much time to bed in the new players. However, all three gave great performances.

We have been tracking Craig all year and it was great to finally see him in the blue and white of York.

Along with Chris Spurr, our capture from Batley, I hope all four players enjoy their time with the Knights and help us continue down the right track.

The club is also moving in the right direction at a junior level with the RFL's decision to award the Knights a Scholarship Scheme for Years 8 (Under-13) and 9 (U14).

Our community development officer, Jason Ramshaw, has put a lot of hard work into the application and it's good to see it rewarded.

We are now on the look out for team managers, head coaches and assistant coaches for the scholarship scheme so, if you're interested and you have the experience, get your application into the Knights' office.

Jason tells me that the attendance at the Knights' Summer Roadshows has been very encouraging and has also asked me to thank Huntington School for making indoor facilities available to them yesterday when the monsoon conditions outside would have made it difficult for the kids to enjoy themselves.

Our chief executive, Steve Ferres, has been closely monitoring the progress of the Great Britain Under-18s squad who are presently on tour in New Zealand and Australia.

One of the young stars of the national squad is Brett Ferres, who is Steve's nephew.

A promising back rower. Brett was snapped up by Superleague champions the Bradford Bulls and is a definite star of the future.

I can reveal that we have have tried to get him on loan at the Knights a couple of times as he would be a great signing for any squad.

Updated: 10:59 Wednesday, August 04, 2004