YORK City Knights starlet Nathan Priestley is eager for more National League One rugby after enjoying his initial tastes of first-team action.

The 18-year-old made his competitive debut for the club as a substitute against full-timers Leigh Centurions ten days ago, and followed that up in Sunday's Powergen Challenge Cup tie at Huddersfield Giants, coming on midway through the first half in place of crocked Player of the Month Jason Golden.

Despite being thrown in at the deep end against full-time opposition, he gave a decent 20-minute cameo against the Centurions and, according to head coach Mick Cook, "did not look out of place" at the Giants' Galpharm Stadium.

The back-rower is now itching for more.

"I want to stay in the squad and do everything as well as I can," he told The Press.

"I'm playing Under-21s but I want to try to become a regular in the first team.

"We've got some strong players in the back-row, like Jason Golden, John Smith and Dave Buckley, and it will be hard, but hopefully I will be in there."

Priestley, who was born in Bradford but is now Pocklington-based, said he had made the right decision in leaving Hull FC's Academy in the winter to come to York.

"It's been really good," the teenager said of his time at Huntington Stadium. "All the coaches, the staff and the players are top-notch and I'm really glad I moved here.

"The main reason I came was because I wanted to play first-team rugby and National League One is a very high standard. I don't want to play Academy all year."

Given the stress fracture to his right leg that will rule Golden out for the next four to six weeks, Priestley may well continue in the Knights' 17 for the NL1 trip to Batley Bulldogs this Sunday, where a victory would lift Cook's men out of the relegation zone.

That game is gearing up to be the club's most important so far this year, and Priestley said the team should enter it with confidence following their previous showing in NL1, albeit in defeat to Leigh.

"We were massive underdogs but the team effort was awesome," he said of his debut at NL1 level - a comment augmented by their battling display against Huddersfield seven days later.

"We felt we could have beaten Leigh. It was definitely possible but we lost it in the last five minutes."

He added: "We can take a lot of confidence from that into the next few weeks. We're feeling more confident and a lot better in ourselves.

"Leigh were full-time and we showed that day that we can compete with the biggest sides in this league."

Updated: 10:37 Wednesday, May 24, 2006