HEAD coach James Ford says Rich Wilkinson is in the running to feature in York City Knights' play-off semi-final following his return out of the blue.

The half-back-turned-full-back was a regular early in the season but had not played since the defeat at Barrow in early August, prior to his shock inclusion in the line-up that lost to Keighley in Sunday's dead rubber.

In between times the 22-year-old had "retired" in readiness for travelling the world, having struggled to win back his place following the return to fitness of number one James Haynes.

He still went to games as a spectator, however, and Ford says the two spoke about his donning the boots again after Thursday night's match against Doncaster. The head coach now expects the former Dons entertainer to be back in full training as of this week.

"I'm grateful he's come back in," said Ford, who had needed extra bodies in the wake of three games in eight days and injuries in the ranks.

"At the same time he's fortunate to get a second chance and he needs to take it.

"If he trains well, he might play in the semi-final. He's capable of doing that.

"I spoke to him after Doncaster. I was aware how tired one or two players were and the number of injuries we've got, and this fixture congestion was a red flag in terms of potentially picking up more injuries.

"Rich came back in. He's apologised to the players for leaving and he's willing to work hard to get back in the team."

York, who have finished fifth in League One, will visit table-toppers Toulouse or second-placed Rochdale in the semi-final. Toulouse and Rochdale meet in the promotion final this weekend, with the winners going up and the losers going into the play-offs.

Those two clubs, meanwhile, shared the League One accolades at the Kingstone Press Championships awards event in Leeds last night, the French outfit being the big winners.

Half-back Johnathon Ford was named the division's Player of the Year and Sylvain Houles the Coach of the Year, while they also won Club of the Year.

Rochdale half-back Danny Yates picked up Young Player of the Year.

Leigh, who have beaten the odds to win a place in Super League via the Super 8s Qualifiers, were the Championship Club of the Year and their hooker, Mickey Higham, Player of the Year.

London Broncos' James Cunningham was Young Player and John Kear named Coach of the Year after guiding Batley into the Qualifiers.