YORK City Knights are preparing to welcome back a slew of players after injury and coronavirus-enforced absences.

Kriss Brining (hamstring), Jordan Baldwinson and Danny Washbrook (both isolating) were all available again for this weekend’s now called-off trip to Sheffield Eagles.

Riley Dean, Jacob Gannon and Liam Salter, meanwhile, are currently on return-to-play protocols after Covid isolation periods.

They will be joined on this phased return to training by Ryan Atkins and James Green, who will leave isolation “by the back end of the week” head coach James Ford said.

Ben Jones-Bishop remains in self-isolation, though, while Knights half-back Brendan O’Hagan is also out of isolation, but remains sidelined through injury. The Australian has played just three of York’s last 16 games.

“He had a strain in his quad and it’s not recovered as quickly as we’d hoped,” revealed Ford. “He is probably a couple of weeks away.

“We’ll have to see how he goes in training and hopefully we don’t get any more set-backs so we can get a fit and fast Brendan O’Hagan out on the field.”

“What we’ve got to remember is that Covid affects some people differently,” Ford added. “Ben Jones-Bishop has no symptoms. He feels like he can play now, despite still being in isolation.

“But we’ve also got one or two players who it has knocked for six a little bit, so they might take a little longer to get back out there.”

Utility back Jason Bass was also due to miss out this weekend as he recovers from a low-grade hamstring injury picked up in last weekend’s win over Swinton Lions. Ford expects him to be phased back into team training next week.

Meanwhile, James Green announced his retirement from the game earlier this week.

"I think James did the right thing,” Ford said. “We want him to go out on a good note and making every carry, tackle and game count.

“James has had some really positive performances for us this season and, when he comes back from Covid, I’m expecting James to really go out all-guns-blazing.”