STAND-OFF supreme Scott Rhodes can't wait to don the York City Knights shirt again and get back in the thick of things.

The Players' Player of the Year, now recovered after off-season shoulder surgery, returns for his first game this term tomorrow as Mick Cook's men eye immediate revenge over Featherstone Rovers.

Rhodes will start the Northern Rail Cup group game at Huntington Stadium on the bench, where he will be joined by another new face in trialist James Ward.

Said the York-born ace: "It's been quite a haul back and I'm looking forward to getting back into it.

"I've got the okay off the surgeon and the physio and it's now a case of see how it holds up in the match but I've been doing contact work at training for a couple of weeks and it feels okay so I'm confident.

"I'm sure it will be a tough game to come back to but I've been itching to get out there for a while."

Back-rower Ward, meanwhile, is a highly-rated amateur with unbeaten Yorkshire League premier division champions Sharlston Rovers.

Coach Cook said: "He's been training with us for about a month and it will be good to see him in action at this level.

"We need to make a decision on him and Featherstone will be a good test for him. He needs to play against teams like this for us to see what he's like.

"He's impressed in training. His fitness levels are up there and his skill levels are quite good and we've had good reports about him so why not see what he's got."

Fit-again Mark Cain returns to the bench, while half-back Paul Thorman will be back in the starting line-up as Cook rotates his squad while looking to avenge last week's 21-20 loss at Post Office Road.

Lee Paterson and Lee Jackson will be rested while Dan Potter is ruled out with flu, with Darren Callaghan switching to his centre role from the second-row.

On loan Tom Buckenham will start at prop before returning to Doncaster, with Craig Forsyth, a fitness doubt anyway, being kept back for next week's Challenge Cup tie against Elland. Leeds loanee Calvin Watson drops to 12th man.

Rovers, already without crocked ball-players Dean Ripley, Andy McNally and Richard Blakeway as well as Neil Lowe, lost props Ian Tonks and Nathan Sykes to injury last week - both are doubtful - and have drafted a few Under-21s into the squad while James Ford might play despite a hernia problem.

Cook added: "We're wanting to go one step further than last week. It was a physical game and I thought we matched them, though there were a few areas that we need to clean up and we need to be a bit more clinical.

"They won't be easy even with pla-yers missing but if we play the right game we're capable of winning."

NORTHERN RAIL CUP

(at Huntington Stadium)

Knights: Blaymire, Fox, Callaghan, Law, Ross, P Thorman, Levy, Sullivan, Elston, Buckenham, Smith, Kirke, Liddell. Subs: Sozi, Ward, Cain, Rhodes.

Featherstone: from Moss, Powell, Maun, Newlove, Wray, Weeden, Presley, Hughes, Dooler, Houston, Hayes, Ford, Jarratt, Evans, Carlston, Tonks, Sykes, Kaye, Nicholson, Kirmond.

Referee: Steve Nicholson (Whitehaven).

Kick off: 3pm.

Updated: 08:57 Saturday, March 05, 2005