CHRIS THORMAN has lauded the competition for places in his York City Knights squad as he contemplates changes ahead of Thursday’s visit of Swinton.

The Knights began their Northern Rail Cup campaign with a 29-18 win at Doncaster on Sunday, despite leaving prop star Paul King and full-back James Haynes out of the side.

Both remain doubts on Thursday as King could be given more time to allow his broken rib to heal properly while Haynes gets over his sciatic nerve problem. The latter also has a job to displace Ben Hellewell in the number one shirt following the dual-registered Warrington ace’s performance at the Keepmoat Stadium.

Former Leeds centre George Elliott could be given a run in midweek, although Thorman admitted it would be a hard decision to omit either two-try captain James Ford or The Press man-of-the-match Matt Garside. Tom Bush could also get a start in the back line after being a substitute against the Dons.

“Ben was excellent,” said the player-boss. “He really put his hand up to do some tough stuff and his positioning was very good. He has a couple of things to work on but he was definitely one of our standout performers.”

As for Ford and Garside, he added: “I thought they were pretty good, and we’ve also got the option of playing George Elliott. It’s good, it’s how we want it to be. We want them to make my life as coach, when deciding who plays, as hard as possible – and they’ve done that.”

Assistant-coach Mick Ramsden also had praise for Garside, while adding every player in the squad would have a part to play as the club look to reach the Northern Rail Cup knockout rounds. They have still to play Swinton, Gateshead and Sheffield in the group stage.

“He was a real handful for them,” said Ramsden of the 21-year-old. “He’s good on his feet and they struggled with it, especially when he was cutting back inside using his step.”

He added: “No game is easy but there’s no reason why we can’t aim to go to Sheffield (on March 2) with three wins from three. Swinton will be a tough game but we’re ready for it. We need to get through these first four games as a squad.”

The Knights are also yet to add highly-rated dual-registered duo Chris Green and Laurence Pearce to their ranks, the Hull pair being injured this last week.

Ramsden added they would have to earn their stripes. He said: “The lads (at York) have been together since October and they’ve been training hard. These new lads need to buy into what we’re doing.”

• Former Knights target Ryan Clayton, 29, the ex-Salford and Castleford back-rower who reneged on a deal to come to Huntington Stadium to sign for Co-operative Championship rivals Halifax, has switched codes, joining Sale FC.