JAMES FORD has not ruled out selecting all three of his half-backs for York City Knights on Sunday (3pm).

York's 21-man squad to face Widnes Vikings contains all of the club's halves for the first time during the 2022 season.

Naturally, it would be assumed that two of Brendan O'Hagan, Jamie Ellis and Liam Harris will start at half-back, with the other missing from the starting 17.

However head coach Ford did not rule out the sight of seeing all three feature at the LNER Community Stadium this weekend.

Asked whether he had a headache of fitting three players into two positions, Ford replied: "Potentially.

"We rested Jamie at the weekend to make sure that he was fresh and ready to go for the game against Widnes.

"And Brendan got 50 minutes into him to make sure that he is ready for the Widnes game.

“And Liam Harris is a quality player. I’ve played him at full-back, at six, at seven and he has done stints at nine.

“So I wouldn’t necessarily rule Liam Harris out of the 17.”

O'Hagan made only his second appearance of the year last weekend, as he returns to full fitness following hip surgery over the off-season and a minor calf issue last month.

The Australian came off the bench and replaced hooker Sam Davis, with Matty Marsh appearing to revert to a stand-in nine.

"He got a little bit more exposure to rugby than I planned," Ford added on O'Hagan.

“But he got through 50 minutes on a real challenging field with no issues which is a positive."

The Knights suffered a bruising 38-12 defeat at Whitehaven last time out in the Betfred Challenge Cup.

York return to the all-important Betfred Championship against Widnes at the LNER Community Stadium.

The visitors currently sit a couple of points above York thanks to four wins from their first five league matches.

While Ford's side completed the league double over Widnes last year, the 2022 version of the Vikings - even at this early stage - appears a far-tougher challenge.

“They’re a good team," said Ford. "The spine of the team that we’re expecting to play, (Jack) Owens, (Danny) Craven, (Matty) Smith, they’re absolutely tremendous players and they’ve been very good players in Super League, so they’ll pose some questions.

"They’ve strengthened their forward pack as well. They’ve brought (Aaron) Brown in from Sheffield, (Matty) Fozard and (Eribe) Doro from Warrington.

“They’re a good team are Widnes, so we’ll need to be at our best. If we play to our best, I’m confident we can come away with the points."

Alluding to the Whitehaven defeat, Ford concluded: “If we miss touch and knock on playing the ball, then we’ll have a tough day.”

Ford confirmed that York will make a "heap of changes" from last weekend and the Knights' 21-man squad sees three changes.

Pauli Pauli's suspension is has now been completed, Danny Kirmond returns after a rest while Levi Edwards is back after being cup-tied.

Will Oakes, AJ Towse and Ronan Michael drop out of the squad.

York City Knights squad: Marsh, Brown, Glover, Ogden, O'Hagan, Ellis, Matongo, Jubb, Teanby, Clarkson, Pauli, Thompson, Dixon, Stock, Kirmond, Harris, Harrison, Ward, Edwards, Porter.