JAMES FORD has backed new recruit Danny Washbrook to be able to effectively make the transition from full-time to part-time rugby league with York City Knights.

Washbrook is one of seven off-season signings made by the Knights and arguably the most high-profile, having played almost 350 games over two spells at Hull FC, with a stint at Wakefield in between, and winning back-to-back Challenge Cups with the former.

The 34-year-old has made the permanent drop to the Championship for the first time in his previously solely Super League career.

Ford admits that the move is a tough one for any player coming down from the top flight but is confident that Washbrook can rise to the challenge.

“Danny’s a massive signing for us in terms of his experience in the game and I’m very confident that he’ll have a massive impact upon our culture and some of the little behaviours and action that I believe in," explained Ford of the move.

“I think he’ll help instil those further.

“Also, he can play in just about any position.

"At 34, I’m not sure I’d play him on the wing.

“But he’s played at centre, in the halves, at hooker, at middle back row and edge back row.

“When I spoke to Radders (Lee Radford, Hull coach), he couldn’t speak highly enough of him in terms of his professionalism and his versatility.

“I fancy him on the edge for us in the back row.

"I think he’ll give us a little bit more IQ out there and hopefully help us have a little bit more of a cutting edge.

“Transitioning from full-time to part-time is hard.

"When a player has been full-time all his life and then he has to get a job, and then he’s finishing work at five and then making his drive across to training.

“Then we’re asking them to arrive early and do their monitoring and extra skills, then train.

"That’s all completely different for those players.

“They’ve had all day to do that previously.

"But Danny is a very intelligent man and he appears to be transitioning really effectively."

Castleford second-row Chris Clarkson and Bradford prop James Green are the other forwards to have made the move to York ahead of the 2020 campaign.

Clarkson last appeared in a Super League play-off match for the Tigers.

Of the 29-year-old, Ford added: “You can tell the levels that Clarky’s played at with the levels that he’s been training at as well as the things that he does before training.

“He’s the first one to clean up his gym station and the first one to clean up after a game. It’s those little things that add up to make a fantastic culture."

On the 29-year-old Green, the Knights coach continued: “James will bring plenty of size to our pack.

"He’s a big lad and he carries the ball really effectively.

“But he’s more than just that. James has got a good offload game and he can bring a bit of second phase ad-lib stuff where probably over the last couple of years we’ve been lacking.

“Some of that has probably been down to me.

“We’ve had a minor change there in how we’ve come at things for this year in pre-season, in terms of letting the players express themselves a little bit more.

“It’s just about recognising when to adopt a slightly different style.

"I think when we do need to James can help us do that."