BRENDAN O'HAGAN will not play in either of York City Knights' two matches this week as he recovers from a hamstring issue.

O'Hagan picked up the injury in York's 20-6 mid-May win at Bradford Bulls and subsequently missed the 40-24 home defeat to Halifax Panthers last time out.

The Australian half-back will also be absent for the Knights' trip to Sheffield Eagles on Thursday (3pm) and the home clash with London Broncos on Sunday (3pm), meaning that Jamie Ellis and Liam Harris will remain in the halves.

“Brendan O’Hagan won’t play either game this week," head coach James Ford revealed.

"His running speed is increasing and we’re increasing his volume of running.

“I would imagine he’d be available in a week or the week after.”

Ford added that loanee prop forward Ronan Michael is targeting a similar timeframe, having not played since March amid an ankle injury.

"He starts his running this week at (parent club) Huddersfield and in the next week or so, we’ll see him start integrating with us," the coach reported. "He’ll be a couple of weeks (away).”

York have not named outside backs Levi Edwards or Brad Ward in their 21-man squad for the Sheffield trip, although Ford has said that the latter is available again after being signed off following concussion concerns.

On loanee Edwards, who has been out injured since April, the Knights boss stated that parent club Leeds Rhinos felt this weekend came "too soon" for the 19-year-old but that there was "a chance" he could play against Widnes Vikings on June 12.

There is better news in the forward pack as Danny Kirmond, who came off against Halifax with a dislocated finger, is fit enough to play while Pauli Pauli is available again after serving his two-match suspension.

“Kirmo will be fine," insisted Ford. "The reason that he came off was because he dislocated his finger and he couldn’t get it back in.

“The doctor had to give him a local anaesthetic to help him get it back in.

“But Kirmo’s fine. He’s that kind of player is Danny, he just gets on with it.

“And having Pauli back, it’s a massive boost, I’m really looking forward to getting him back out there.

“He had a little bit of time off because his partner had another child, so congratulations to them.

“Since he’s come back in, he’s worked really hard and he’s been topping his extras and his conditioning and working hard in team training.

“He’s really excited to get back out there and I’m really excited to get him back out there. I think he’s a massive player for us.”

All told, Ford thinks that York are far better placed than they were fitness-wise against Halifax where numerous injuries meant he was forced to field "the walking wounded."

He said: "I think there were five (players) out there who didn’t train all week.

“We were down to 14 in training, so we had to call Toby Warren back (from Leeds).

“We left them (five) until the warm-up to see if they could play in the game.

“I won’t say who they are but they’ve all trained since then, bar two where that was planned.

“We’re in a stronger position now, our legs are fresher, we’ve got one or two back and over the hills there’s Levi, Ronan and Brendan who are not far off.”

York have made just one change to their 21-man squad to face Sheffield, with Pauli replacing Warren.

York City Knights squad: Marsh, Brown, Glover, Ogden, Oakes, Ellis, Matongo, Jubb, Teanby, Clarkson, Pauli, Thompson, Davis, Dixon, Stock, Kirmond, Harris, Harrison, Towse, Antrobus, Porter.