JAMES HAYNES has vowed to come back stronger from his latest injury nightmare and "hit the ground running" – hopefully in the Kingstone Press Championship.

Medics have confirmed that York City Knights’ skipper has suffered a grade two tear of the anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee and needs a full reconstruction of the joint, ruling him out for at least nine months.

But rather than bemoan his luck and consider calling it a day having already missed two years of his career due to injury, the 26-year-old, who is contracted to the club until the end of 2016, insists he will fight back again. And in the meantime he has backed the Knights to succeed in his absence by winning promotion from League One.

“I’m gutted really. Just really disappointed I’m not able to finish the season with the team, especially when I felt I was playing well,” he said.

“Everybody keeps telling me my luck is going to change and I hope they're right.

“I’m really happy here and I'll stick at it and come back stronger.

“The physio said it could happen to anyone and there was nothing I could have done to have made it (the knee) stronger or that there was a weakness there. It’s just one of those things.

“Hopefully when I come back I’ll be able to hit the ground running and find form quickly - and hopefully my luck will change."

Asked if he thought the Knights could win promotion without him, he said: “Of course.

“They’re a great bunch of players who are progressing well. The young boys last season have learned from our form in the play-offs last year and hopefully they’ll use the memories of that disappointment to help them go and win it this year.

“The top six or seven teams are all quality and the play-offs will be exciting. You need that bit of luck but we’ve got the quality to get promoted.”

Haynes suffered the injury against Oxford on August 9 and, after seeing a consultant, is now on the waiting list for a knee reconstruction. He will hopefully go under the knife within two months and, with rehab likely to take six to eight months, he is hoping to play again come May or June next year.

“As soon as I came off my right foot I felt a snap and a pop and I knew it was something pretty bad,” he explained of the fateful moment, insisting the injury had nothing to do with foul play.

“It was awful, a pain I’ve never felt before in my life. I panicked a bit and feared the worst straight away, especially when I’ve been injured quite a lot through my career.

“It was nothing to do with any of the Oxford players. It just happened when I came off my right foot. A lot of them wished me well after the game.

“The consultant confirmed I had completely ruptured my ACL, a grade two tear, with bone bruising in my femur as well. I feared the worst and it was pretty much the worst.”

The Hull-based ace, who first joined York in the 2010 promotion season, missed all of 2012 with back issues linked to a serious sciatic nerve problem and spent much of 2013 in the amateur game as he rediscovered fitness and form.

After his successful return in 2014, he was given the armband this year but also missed 12 games between April and July as back trouble resurfaced.

“I felt I'd started the season pretty well and, after coming back (from the back injury), I was not far off that form again,” he said.

“It’s just so disappointing. But I love playing rugby league and I love playing for this club and with these players. As long as I can still do it, I will do it.”

After Sunday's League One results, the Knights are now all but guaranteed a play-off place with two games to go.

Added Haynes: “Oldham are going to be tough to beat – they’re a shoo-in for top spot. Swinton having a good chance – they play good attacking rugby league, the type of rugby that not many teams play at this level. Keighley as well are a top side.

“Whoever we get it will be difficult - but it will be difficult for the other teams against us.”