YORK City Knights have announced former England Universities international forward Marcus Stock has signed a new deal for the 2020 Betfred Championship season.

The 23-year-old initially signed from Hemel Stags 12 months ago as a relative unknown but went on to become an influential figure in James Ford’s squad on the way to a memorable third-placed finish in the Championship.

He made 26 appearances in total, scoring seven tries and earned the ‘shooting star’ award at the club’s end-of-season gala dinner last week.

Head coach Ford said: “We were all pleased with the rate at which Marcus developed last season. This was down to Marcus’s approach to training and acting on feedback.

"As long as this approach continues I’m sure he’ll kick on to new levels.

“Marcus has great footwork, distribution skills and intelligence that could make him a key member of our squad if he continues to show the same drive and grit.

“The exciting thing is that Marcus is still a young man and has his best years of rugby in front of him.”

Stock added: “The change in environment from the bottom of League One to the top of the Championship has been a dream come true for me.

"It was an easy decision to re-sign for an amazing club that is going places.

“With the move to the new stadium next year hopefully we can take the amazing Bootham Crescent atmosphere with us from 2019 into 2020.”

The 18 other players currently signed on for 2020 are Joe Porter, Sam Scott, Jack Teanby, Jason Bass, Connor Robinson, Kriss Brining, Matty Marsh, Perry Whiteley, Ronan Dixon, Will Jubb, Jordan Baldwinson, Brad Hey, Liam Salter, Danny Washbrook, Chris Clarkson, James Green, Ben Johnston and Will Sharp.