JAMES FORD reckons dual-registration agreements can continue to provide positives to York City Knights - but he is dead against diluting the club's identity.

Rookie head coach Ford is set to meet with Castleford Tigers counterpart Daryl Powell tomorrow to discuss the pros and cons of the clubs' 2014 partnership and talk over an arrangement for 2015.

Having been on both the playing and coaching staff in the past two years, he is wary of the dual-reg system's flaws on and off the pitch, but he is keen to keep the benefits, as long as York "don't become a Super League under-23s side" by borrowing lots of players on the whim of their partners - a criticism levelled this year at Doncaster, Hull's 2014 partners.

"I think dual-registration, if managed correctly, can work for both clubs, and there's no reason why this can't be a really good arrangement," he said when asked if the Knights were likely to continue working with Cas.

"I was reasonably happy with the support we got from Castleford. The two clubs have to be good communicators, but obviously that can be difficult when you have to focus primarily on your own club and your league.

"With the dual-reg players that came to us, Ben Reynolds was excellent, Brad Day was excellent in his short time here, and you could see with Jake Webster, when he played that one game for us, that he had come with the right approach and a great attitude. That is certainly a positive you can get from this.

"There is also the quality of coaching support and advice available through Cas, which is first class. I have lots of respect for what Daryl Powell did at Featherstone (when head coach there) and what he is doing at Cas and it would be great to be able to pick his brains."

Former coach Gary Thornton was far happier with last year's partnership with Cas than he was with the much-maligned 2013 link-up with Hull, but there were still drawbacks, not least losing Day for the Championship One play-offs after he was pulled by the Tigers at a key time and occasional uncertainty over who would be made available when.

New boss Ford, having taken the reins from Thornton this autumn, added ahead of tomorrow's meeting: "How Cas saw things and how they envisage things is something we will be discussing and we have to make sure there are positives for both us and them.

"As for us, we have to make sure it protects our camp and our environment, and not get ourselves into the predicaments we were in the year before."

In 2013, York's partnership with Hull was axed nine months into a three-year agreement, with question marks over the calibre and attitude of dual-reg players and the supposed assistance with off-field practices.

This year, the Knights fielded four dual-reg players in total, the pick being Reynolds, who played 16 times and was jointly named the Championship One Young Player of the Year with team-mate James Saltonstall. Day made four appearances, and Cas first-teamers Dan Fleming and Jake Websters one apiece, while Colton Roche went the other way for some coaching in the full-time environment.

Hull were involved in further controversy, meanwhile, as their 2014 partners Doncaster, along with Batley, had Championship points docked for fielding ineligible players only to win them back on appeal, citing confusion over the smallprint in the dual-reg rules.

The reprieve saved Batley from relegation and instead sent down a fuming Keighley Cougars, who have demanded financial compensation from the Rugby Football League.