YORK City Knights prop Dean O'Loughlin has stressed his current commitment to rugby league - despite being given the chance to swap the oval ball for a pair of boxing gloves.

O'Loughlin will reconsider his future in rugby at the end of the season having won the opportunity to become a professional fighter, but says his main focus right now is playing well for the Knights.

The former Doncaster Dragons forward, who stands 6ft 4in and weighs 18 stone, won a boxing competition earlier this year in Leicester to uncover new heavyweight talent. He was one of two fighters from that to be offered the chance to turn pro.

The 23-year-old told The Press: "I'm going to see how I progress in rugby and boxing and make my mind up at the end of the season."

Asked if it was possible to do both, he said: "It depends how far you want to go. If you want to go far in boxing you can't, but at the stage I'm at you can.

"My main commitment now is the rugby. I will do the boxing alongside that and see how things go."

That final decision could depend on how his reconstructed knee stands up to the rigours of the rugby season.

O'Loughlin, who "did a bit of boxing ages ago" as a teenage amateur, was making his way up the Hull FC ranks before he suffered the serious knee injury as well as a shoulder problem. He later signed for Doncaster and played 28 times last season before his winter switch to Huntington Stadium.

Having now got back into the ring, he does his boxing training in Doncaster, albeit around his commitments with the Knights, and his first bout is planned for Christmas time.

Knights boss Mick Cook said he did not mind O'Loughlin training in the ring as long as it did not adversely affect his rugby.

He said: "I used to do a bit of boxing training myself to top up my conditioning. It's a good type of training relevant to our sport and unless he goes overboard with it, it won't be a problem. Given the training we can do part-time, there's room for other sessions in our working week."

THE Knights Supporters' Club are running a coach to tomorrow's game at Workington, though there are only limited spaces remaining.

It will leave Huntington Stadium at 10am with the usual pick-up points through town, apart from Tadcaster Road, as the coach will go via the A59.

Prices are adults £12, concessions £10, under-16s £7, U12s £3. To book call 07958 569266.

WORKINGTON Town Supporters' Club are apparently laying on a bit of grub and pre-match entertainment tomorrow, in the Derwent Park stadium bar, from 1pm.

EAGLE-EYED readers may notice there is no Knights "Supercash" advert in today's Sports Pages, as there previously has been.

This, I imagine, confirms the organisers of this particular lottery no longer provide funding for the Knights.

I don't know whether any North Yorkshire folk who still pay into this draw are notified elsewhere about whether they have won cash, but I would suggest they should instead pay into the Knights' very own "Lancealotto" lottery.

Only people from this area can win with Lancealotto, while all the revenue it makes goes to your club, the Knights.

Updated: 10:03 Saturday, May 06, 2006