HEAD Coach James Ford has given his blessing to back-row enforcer Ryan Mallinder taking this weekend off - as long as he doesn't use the same excuse again in the future.

The 26-year-old is getting married to his sweetheart, Becky Candlin, making him unavailable for York City Knights' League One trip to Hemel Stags on Sunday.

Asked, tongue in cheek, if he minded Mallinder missing the game, head coach Ford quipped: "Hopefully he'll be getting married only once.

"As long as it's not Grand Final time I guess it's okay."

He added: "Seriously, he told me about it a while ago and it's a big part of life isn't it. We all hope he has a good day."

Captain Pat Smith is also unavailable on Sunday due to work commitments taking him to Belgium for the weekend.

Scrum-half Smith has played the last two games at hooker and his absence makes Kriss Brining's return from his lengthy injury all the more timely.

Brining, who bagged nine tries in seven games before breaking a thumb in April, is set to share hooking duties with either Harry Carter or Casey Canterbury.

The Knights are also likely to have James Clare and Michael Channing available again on dual-reg from Castleford.

Meanwhile, former York player-boss Chris Thorman was back in training with the Knights on Wednesday - to give specialist goal-kicking coaching.

Thorman, who played for the Knights between 2010 and 2012, being player-coach in 2012, joined Huddersfield's backroom staff ahead of the 2013 season. He is currently assistant-coach and under-19s boss at the Giants, with whom he enjoyed two spells as a player, captaining them to the 2006 Challenge Cup final.

The 34-year-old England international, who also had a spell in the NRL, was a renowned kicker who scored more than 1,000 points in his Super League career.

He worked with Ben Dent, currently York's first-choice goal-kicker with James Haynes crocked, and dual-reg Castleford stand-off Jordan Howden.

Ford said: "I spoke to him at the weekend. He's got a lot of time for Ben from when he was here and was more than happy to come down and do some extra coaching."