JAMES FORD admits that he will miss retiring hooker Kriss Brining at York City Knights.

Brining announced his retirement yesterday and cited repeated injury problems, lack of family time and work commitments for his decision.

The hooker was one of York's most experienced players, having played over 150 matches for the club across two spells after graduating through York's old scholarship set-up.

“It’s sad for the team and the club that Kriss is retiring but he is making the decision on how he feels and he knows himself really well,” said Ford.

“I remember Kriss as a 16-year-old here when I came on loan initially.

“He made an impact in training and he played in the first team at a really early age and he should be really proud of his journey.

“He hasn’t come from a rugby area, in Scarborough, and he’s played League One, Championship and Super League.

“He got nominated for the (Albert Goldthorpe) Young Player of the Year (in 2017) and he has had some outstanding moments on a rugby field.

“He should be really proud of what he’s done. He’s always conducted himself immaculately. I’ve always been really proud of him as a person.

“I’ll miss him, from a selfish perspective. I played with Kriss and there’s not many of them still playing who I played with,” Ford laughed.

“I’ll miss him and I hope he’s not a stranger to the club and not a stranger to me. We wish him all the best for the rest of his life.”

Speaking about where this leaves York in terms of options at hooker, Ford added: “We’ve still got Will Jubb and Sam Davis.

“Will Jubb can play 80 minutes if we need him too and when we have the three halves (fit), we could use one of the three halves in there.

“We could even use Myles Harrison as the 14. So we’ve got options.”