JAMES FORD is optimistic his recently crocked quartet will all be fit in time for the start of York City Knights’ season.

New head coach Ford saw speedster Jamel Chisholm limp out of the action inside ten minutes of the Knights’ opening friendly of pre-season against Hull last Sunday, and Josh Nicklin, James Haynes and Jay Leary were not long in following the winger to the treatment room.

Nicklin and Leary are the biggest concerns, with the former suffering a small fracture in an ankle, and the latter a broken collarbone, while fellow new recruit Chisholm sprained an ankle and skipper Haynes picked up what is thought to be a minor gluteal muscle injury.

Nicklin, Leary and Chisholm are unlikely to feature in the next fixture, at partner club Castleford Tigers on January 30, but Ford expects them all to be back in training by the end of February.

The season kicks off with a League Cup tie at London Skolars on March 1.

Hooker Kriss Brining is also on the mend having spent much of pre-season in rehabilitation to finally see off a neck/shoulder problem that was troubling him throughout 2014.

Said Ford: “X-rays have showed Josh has a small fracture. He twisted his ankle in contact when returning the ball.

“He was going okay and hopefully he won’t be took long out. I knew he was going to be a decent player after seeing him a couple of times and, as he gets older, he will get better.

“Jamel sprained an ankle so we’ll have to see if he’s in contention for Castleford and see how he responds to treatment.

“Jay broke a collarbone which is a blow but we’ve been told he’ll be three to four weeks.

“We think James’ injury is only a minor one but obviously we’ll monitor things with all of them and take precautions where necessary.”

Getting Brining fully fit and firing is also a priority for Ford.

“He’ll be getting back into contact work now and is getting closer to being game ready,” said the head coach of the 22-year-old.

“We’re being very cautious with him. He’s a young man with a lot of years in front of him so we don’t want to rush him back too quickly.

“He was playing with this ongoing problem last year and we want him to kick on properly without these worries and fulfil his potential.

“We decided it was right for him to see a specialist and withdraw from a couple of aspects of training and hopefully it will help to get him back to the levels we know he can play at.”