BIRTHDAY BOY James Haynes has come in for praise from York City Knights boss Gary Thornton as he continues to battle his way back to fitness and form the tough way.

Haynes, who turned 24 today, missed all of last season due to a serious sciatic nerve problem and underwent surgery which could have ended his career.

Thornton is wary the full-back is still some way off rediscovering the punch and panache that made him a Knights crowd favourite after helping them to promotion in 2010 – not helped by the fact he is having to learn a new role at centre.

But the former Dewsbury ace has kept his place in the threequarters for the past three Championship games after making his long- awaited return on the bench.

“We were hoping pre-season would give him those first games back but he wasn’t quite ready to play then so we’ve had to get him fit by playing him in league games, which isn’t easy,” explained Thornton.

“With James Ford out, it’s given him the opportunity to step in and he got 80 minutes against Sheffield, Workington and Keighley. You can see he’s not back to what he was before his back operation – you can see it in his running style.

“He’s still struggling fitness-wise and it’s tough getting match fitness this way, especially after so long out, but I thought he was very good against Workington.

“He’s a smashing lad and all he wants is to play rugby league. We’d had a bit of a set-to because he thought he was ready to play and I didn’t, but he’s improved and I thought he and George Elliott played really well on that (right) flank against Workington. It’s difficult to judge his Keighley performance because everyone was bad.

“I’m not sure centre is his best position but can we move Tom Carr from full-back when he’s been playing well? I’m sure James would prefer to play at full-back, and there have been a couple of occasions when he’s been caught out because he’s not used to playing centre. We have to see if we can work on him and develop him as a centre. We’ve got to get him up to speed and full fitness as quickly as we can.

“I hope he gets back to his best. I’m not sure he’s there but hopefully there’s more to come.”