MARK Applegarth responded to Huddersfield Giants’ claims that York Knights should have received further punishment for two challenges during the Magic Weekend.
On a day where the Knights recorded back-to-back wins for the first time at Betfred Super League level, their 36-24 victory over Huddersfield had a cloud casted over it by Giants Head Coach Jim Lenihan’s post-match comments about York.
A hip drop tackle on Asher O’Donnell by Cody Hunter and a strong clash between Xavier Va’a and Chris Patolo left two Huddersfield men requiring treatment, much to the frustration of Lenihan, who is still waiting for his first win in charge of the Giants.
Hunter has since received five penalty points for his hip drop tackle, but for Applegarth, he disagreed that further punishment was needed believing there was little his players could do to avoid the challenges.
“Naturally, we let the review panel do their job,” the Knights chief said in his press conference this week.
“We got a phone call this morning [Monday], Cody got five points, so he won’t get a ban.
“I understand what Jim is saying, but at the same time, it’s not like Cody has gone in to intentionally hip drop.
“The only other option Cody had there was to let the player score the try, and I think the momentum has taken him round.
“We’ll take that one on the chin, but again, I don’t think there is much that Cody could have done.
“I’m not sure what else Xavier could do to be honest with you, other than run into him.
“It’s an unfortunate incident, we never want to see anyone get injured on the field and thankfully he got up and walked away.
“It was two tough players going at each other, Xavier managed to get one up there.
“I don’t think there was any foul play in it whatsoever, it was a hard collision, and I’d be very concerned if we got any more off of that.
“I don’t see what the issue was there other than two tough players going at each other.”
The Knights are on a high after back-to-back wins in their Super League campaign, and will be hopeful that they can carry their good form on when facing Hull FC at the LNER Community Stadium on Thursday evening (8pm).
Applegarth isn’t expected to name many changes to his team, but did report some positive news on the status of Harvey Reynolds, who was confirmed to have dislocated his elbow last week.
The York Head Coach added: “He’s been very lucky, the complete opposite to Toa [Mata’afa].
“When Toa dislocated his elbow, he did quite severe ligament damage, but Harvey has done the opposite.
“He’s dislocated his elbow, but has done minimal ligament damage.
“I think it will be two to three weeks instead of seven or eight, the surgeon wasn’t too concerned with a fracture in there.
“We’ve been very lucky there, Harvey has been lucky, he’s obviously a young lad still and bends a bit more than some of the experienced lads.
“I think it will be four weeks tops, then we should be seeing Harvey back in action.”
A notable change to the Knights squad to take on Huddersfield during the Magic Weekend was the exclusion of club captain Liam Harris, who was swiftly replaced by Matty Foster as the 18th man.
Foster has been recovering from a throat injury, and having impressed Applegarth in training, it was a no-brainer to have him back in and around the squad at the Hill Dickinson Stadium.
“He looks hungry, he’s training hard,” Applegarth acknowledged, “there are a few people chomping at the bit now.
“He’s putting his hand up and is letting us know that he’s ready if we need him, that’s all we can ask of him.
“You just want a group of hungry players to get in that team, and it’s a lot easier to keep stability in the team if you are getting results from it.
“Naturally, you’re going to pick up injuries, people will pick up a loss of form, but it’s important that you have people ready to step up.
“Matty falls into that bracket, he’s just waiting for his opportunity and when he gets it, he’ll take it.”
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