YORK Lokomotive ARLC will bank on a great team spirit to put them into the race for honours in the new summer season.

The Lokos kick off their campaign in the RL Conference’s Yorkshire premier division on Saturday with a home match against Haworth Park at their York RI base (2.30pm).

They will hope to get off to a good start, especially as Haworth lost 70-10 to Scarborough in their opener last week, but club spokesman Andy Starkey has warned nothing can be taken for granted and they will not know the true shape of the new-look league for a few weeks yet.

They are nevertheless hoping to match their exploits of their inaugural season two years ago when they reached the grand final. They finished fourth last term.

Starkey said: “We have hopes of getting to the grand final again and with the right team spirit we could do that.

“But the league is a bit of an unknown this year and it will be two or three weeks until we have an idea of what level we need to get to.”

Others in the division include East Leeds and Milford – clubs who have teams in amateur rugby league’s elite winter league, the National Conference – as well as a new side from Rotherham.

Starkey added: “Rotherham beat Thorne at the weekend, and Thorne were runners-up last year. East Leeds versus Milford was very close, and we don’t know yet whether they are playing National Conference players or youngsters, so it will take time to see the level we have to play at.

“I imagine most teams will be stronger at home so maybe it’s the teams who do best away who will finish in the top two or three.”

The Lokos will be made up of players from all over the York area.

There are 18 to 20 in the current squad, more than half of whom play for the Lokos only, with others coming in from local winter amateur clubs York Acorn, Heworth, New Earswick and Selby Warriors and a few making the switch from rugby union.

A few more are expected to come in from Acorn and Heworth, whose seasons have only just finished.

Lokos will run with four captains – utility back John Hough as the main skipper, backed by threequarter Tom Galloway, forward Liam Watling and prop Jason Harper. The likes of New Earswick’s former Hunslet player Ben Jones and ex-York City Knights back Tom Dunmore will be key men too.

Starkey said of the captaincy: “It’s emulating what they’re doing at (Super League big-guns) Wigan. It’s just to share the responsibility and take pressure off one person.

“The squad is similar to the one in our first season. Ideally we’d like to get another ten down to take the number up to 25 to 30. We don’t want to get to 50-plus players like last year.

“We want it to be a fair representation from all over York, including union players who want to play league, and as the only (amateur) summer side from York we want to do well for the city.”