BIG prop Adam Robinson insists York City Knights will not rest on their laurels heading into the Super 8s – but “really go for it” as the promotion race hots up.

The Knights, having ended last year in crisis before having to play catch-up on and off the field after a December takeover, began the season among the outsiders for promotion in Kingstone Press League One, yet they have risen to fourth place after the 15 regular rounds.

Robinson, one of the stars of the show with bulldozing runs and an offload threat, says they won’t just sit on those successes – with "everything now to play for".

“We didn’t set a target at the start of the year as we were a developing team,” said the former Halifax forward. “We’ve reassessed what we are and where we’re at.

“We’re not going to rest and pat ourselves on the back for what we’ve done up to now. We’re really going to go for it and see how far we can get.

“This is a new competition now and there’s everything to play for.”

York kick off the Super 8s on Sunday at home to unbeaten leaders Toronto Wolfpack, the new full-time megabucks side who are expected to go through the season with a 100 per cent record.

Robinson accepts his side are huge underdogs, especially having lost 64-22 over in Canada four weeks ago, but, with a stronger team out and an expected bumper Bootham Crescent crowd behind them, he hasn’t ruled out pulling off a shock.

“If you look at what they’ve done and how they’ve dismantled teams - playing for just 30 or 40 minutes and running up big scores in that time – you have to say they’ve been the best team in the league,” reasoned the 30-year-old, who himself did not go to Canada having been injured at the time.

“We competed for a large amount of time but in a 10-20-minute period they scored eight tries.

“We didn’t do what we needed to do in that period but we know what we need to improve and this time it’s on our own patch.

“I don’t care what anyone says, that travelling does affect you."

The Wolfpack do not suffer such jetlag or travel issues as they play blocks of matches in the UK rather than head over the Atlantic for a weekend.

But Robinson added: “We’re confident – of course we are. We’re under no illusions regarding the size of the challenge we face, but if you don’t go into a game confident there’s no point going into it at all.

“We know where we went wrong and we’ve identified areas we need to improve to break them down.”

On the importance of the fixture, he said: “It’s a two-point game. All the other teams are unlikely to get anything from them so it could be massive for where we want to be.

“It won’t make or break our season, but it will give us massive confidence if we compete and play well, plus the possibility of two points that other teams won’t get.”

As for the Knights’ other main rivals in the race for the top-five play-offs, Robinson said: “We’ve already beaten a lot of teams around us.

“We lost to those two Cumbrian teams, but against Whitehaven we had more than ample opportunities to win and against Barrow we were still a raw team and we’ve improved vastly since then.

“We’ll relish going back there and righting some wrongs.”

He added: “I see Toronto walking the league – but I think we’ll be the sternest test they’ll face in the 8s because the Cumbrian teams (second-placed Whitehaven and third-placed Barrow) have to go there and that takes a lot out of you.

“The other promotion place is maybe between three, four or five teams - and we’re right in the mix for that.”

Robinson, meanwhile, has warmly welcomed the Knights’ new deadline-day signings – even if it puts his own place in the team under greater threat.

Former Super League prop Jordan Cox, big Hull FC young gun Ross Osborne and teenage back-rower Zeus Silk bolstered the pack options last week, after Hull KR’s Aussie centre, Jake Butler-Fleming, added to the outside backs.

Robinson said: “It makes players like myself and other middles know we can’t have a bad game and we can’t have an off 10 minutes, or we will lose our spots.

“That’s what competition does. You’ve got to raise your own personal standards.

“If it means you have to sit a week or two out then that’s what you have to do, then when you get your chance you have to take it.”