JOE PORTER has expressed his excitement at the prospect of the biggest game of his career when York City Knights host Wigan Warriors on Friday night (7.45pm).

Wins over fellow Betfred Championship sides Sheffield Eagles and London Broncos have secured York’s place in the third round of the Betfred Challenge Cup against the competition’s 19-time winners Wigan.

It will be the first time York have faced Betfred Super League opposition competitively since running Catalans Dragons close back in 2018.

Porter, who was on the bench that day, says that this is the most significant match of his career though he admits that there is some disappointment at the game being played beyond behind-closed-doors at the LNER Community Stadium.

“It’s a massive game and it’ll be the biggest game so far, since I’ve been here at the club,” said the prop. “It’s a shame that we don’t have the crowd down here because it would have been a great day.

“But it will still definitely be a big day for the club.

“We’d have got a good number down of just York fans and I know that Wigan would have brought a big crowd, so it would have been great to have been near to packing out the new stadium, which is a shame really.”

Porter has played all three games in 2021 and his strong carries as an interchange have been eye-catching early on.

“I’m fairly happy with how I’m going,” he said. “We’ve got a strong side this year so I’ve had to up my extras at training and keep working hard really and focus on my game to stay in the squad.

“There’s so many big names, so I always knew that it was going to be a challenge but I think that Fordy is always going to go with people who are playing and training well.”