Difficult decisions still await Knights' player-coach (From York Press)

Difficult decisions still await Knights' player-coach

12:00pm Thursday 26th January 2012 in Knights RL By Peter Martini, peter.martini@thepress.co.uk

THE team York City Knights field in their final friendly will not necessarily be an indication of Chris Thorman’s first-choice line-up when the season starts.

That was the message coming out of the camp ahead of the Paul Higgins Memorial Match against Castleford at Huntington Stadium on Sunday (3pm) – suggesting a few difficult decisions still await player-coach Thorman ahead of the Northern Rail Cup opener at home to Swinton on February 12.

It is not uncommon for clubs to play their strongest 17 in their last run-out before competitive action kicks off, giving players a full game to get used to each other.

Earlier friendlies generally see teams chop and change extensively, as has been the case in the Knights’ three games to date this year.

But Thorman partly has his hands tied as some of his men are carrying knocks, while he has also reiterated that whichever team he fields could be considered a strong one.

Asked if Sunday’s line-up is likely to resemble the 17 that will take on Swinton, Thorman said: “I could’ve said that about last week’s team (against Hull) or the team the week before (against Leeds Under-20s).

“They’re all strong teams I’ve fielded. The most impressive performance was probably when I rested a few (propable first-choices).”

That intimates Thorman is still unsure of what 17 to field against Swinton, or at least that some places are up for grabs.

He is not being helped, either, by a few niggling injuries.

Tom Bush, Rhys Clarke and Joe Hemmings all picked up dead legs last Sunday and may sit out this weekend’s match, while Matt Garside, the Knights’ top try-scorer in the Championship last season, has a problem with a toe.

Second-row bruiser Tommy Haughey is also likely to be given leave due to family commitments, while ex-Super League prop Paul King, another notable signing, is set to be omitted too, despite a man-of-the-match display on his Knights bow against his former club last week.

Thorman confirmed: “We’re carrying a few knocks, and I’m not going to risk anyone in a pre-season game.”

Sunday’s match is the annual encounter for the Paul Higgins Memorial Trophy between the two clubs the former junior rugby league guru served so well before his untimely death in 2008, aged 56.

Higgins played for Castleford and went on to do great development work with young players in both Cas and York, before suffering a heart attack at a rugby league festival at Millthorpe School, York, in 2008.

A proportion of gate receipts from Sunday’s game, plus cash from a bucket collection, will go to the Higgo’s 13-a-side Rugby Foundation set up in his memory, which to date has raised £10,000 for junior rugby league in York and North Yorkshire.

Among his roles, Higgins had been a scholarship and reserves coach at the Knights and had headed up the pioneering rugby league development course at York College, a coaching role now taken on by Thorman.

“I didn’t know him but speaking to people who did, I know how highly he was regarded,” said the Knights player-boss, who came to York in late 2009.

“Gordon Staniforth (former York City striker and head of sports development at York College) holds him in very high regard. He has lots of fond memories of him.

“Some of the boys in our first team knew him and a lot of the boys who played in our reserves and those who have links with York College – they all speak highly of him and of what a nice, genuine guy he was.

“That’s not lost on me, and it’s important that people like Paul, who do right by players, the club, the college, by rugby league in North Yorkshire and in life in general, are remembered fondly. This game is a great way of doing that.”