CHRIS THORMAN has admitted he does not know his strongest York City Knights team and probably won’t know it for some time.

The 31-year-old, promoted to head coach in the off-season, goes into his first competitive match as a player-boss tomorrow when he takes the Knights to Doncaster for their Northern Rail Cup opener (3pm), last week’s clash with Swinton having fallen foul of the weather.

He has named a 20-man provisional squad but, as in pre-season, was leaving it late to confirm his line-up. He has a couple of injury doubts to consider – the most notable being Paul King and James Haynes – but he also revealed it would take time to decide a first-choice 17.

Asked if the players on show tomorrow would, injuries aside, represent his strongest team, he said: “I don’t know what my strongest team is yet. Mark Aston (Sheffield boss) was quoted this week saying he won’t know his until half-way through the season, and it’s probably true.

“Are Dave Sutton and Waine Pryce our best two wingers? Is James Haynes our best full-back or is it Tom Bush or Ben Hellewell? Is George Elliott better than Matty Garside? You can go through the team like that. What’s our best back-row combination?

“We haven’t played a competitive game yet and playing is the way to find out.”

Elliott will have to wait his turn as he is among those omitted on the Knights’ opening day. John Gay was likewise close to making the squad, but he and other rookie playmakers Brett Turner and Lee Williams also miss out, as Thorman, as expected, names himself and Jordan Tansey at half-back and Jack Lee as the only recognised hooker.

Dual-registered pair Chris Green and Laurence Pearce are ruled out, while Haynes has been struggling with sciatic nerve damage and so Hellewell or Bush could get first dabs at full-back. King likewise might not be risked due to his rib injury – now confirmed as a broken rib.

The former Hull front-rower wants to play and has been training but might be given another fortnight for the bone to heal. He suffered the injury against Hull in the January 21 friendly and was advised to rest it for six to eight weeks.

Back-rower Tommy Haughey has been included, despite overriding family commitments which affected his availability in pre-season.

Thorman would not comment on the “private matter” but did say: “The boys are aware of what he’s been going through and they’ve been great. He wants to play and it can get him away from it for a couple of hours. All he has to do is enjoy his rugby.”

Hosts Doncaster kicked off their season on Wednesday night with their rearranged trip to Championship One rivals Gateshead. They won 48-10 – with Lee Waterman, who left York for the Dons in the autumn, scoring four tries on his debut.

Dons boss Tony Miller might make a few changes, with Kyle Kesik, Mike Kelly and highly-rated dual-registered Hull centre Liam Cunningham injury doubts, but Waterman will keep his place in the back line.

Star signing Paul Cooke, the former Hull and Hull KR stand-off, is also a definite starter, while Mike Burnett, who joined on dual-reg from Hull in midweek, will also feature. The Knights themselves had considered making an approach for the Super League forward before he re-joined the Airlie Birds in January.

Thorman said: “Paul Cooke’s a big signing for them. He gives them great experience and a really good kicking game and he’ll try to dictate what they do with the ball.

“We know what Lee’s capable of in Championship One. He scored lots of tries for us and I’m sure he’ll score a fair few this year. Mike Burnett’s a very good player – I’m sure he’ll get in the Hull team a fair bit.”

Championship side York are favourites but Thorman warned: “They’ll also be confident after scoring a few points on Wednes-day. We expect a tough game.”

Doncaster: from Butterfield, Colton, Waterman, Crowther, Cooke, Fawcett, Bibb, Kesik, Robinson, Edwards, Hughes, Emmett, Lawton, Castle, Hodson, Welsh, Cunningham, Burnett, Powley, Sanderson.

Knights: from Haynes, Hellewell, Bush, Sutton, Ford, Garside, Pryce, Thorman, Tansey, Sullivan, Lee, Houston, Clarke, Smith, Haughey, Aldous, Broughton, King, Benson.

Referee: Ronnie Laughton (Barnsley).