HEAD coach James Ford has hailed the efforts of hooker Kriss Brining since his return to York City Knights – and has warned opponents there is “another two or three levels” in his homegrown star.

The Scarborough-born 25-year-old hooker, who came through the old scholarship at York, re-joined the Knights on the eve of the season from Salford Red Devils and has been an ever-present since then – despite spending all of 2018 on the sidelines at the Super League club due to a worrying neck injury.

He started Sunday’s game against Halifax on the bench as interchange hooker but, rather than play the usual 40-minute stint either side of the interval, he had to stay on for an hour as Harry Carter pulled a hamstring and exited the action a quarter of the way through.

Brining duly played a full part in a 38-16 win which kept the Knights in the upper echelons of the Betfred Championship, having briefly put them joint-top.

Ford said: “I was pleased with Kriss. What you’ve got to remember is he’s had a year out of the game.

“Defensively he was solid and he looked to run on a couple of occasions. We’d asked him to manage his energy because he had to do the rest of the game.

“I’m really pleased with how he’s kicking on and how he has kicked on. I remember him here as a young boy and after 20 minutes he’d be tapping his watch because he was done and he was ready to come off.

“He’s played 60 in this game and he did 65-70 against Bradford away - we played him at nine, then at loose-forward, then back to nine – so I’m really pleased with how he’s kicked on mentally.”

Brining made his York debut as a 17-year-old against Widnes in April 2011 and became a regular towards the end of 2012 while still only 18.

He went on to played 86 times for the club, scoring 54 tries, before joining Salford at the end of 2016. His last two seasons at York had garnered 45 tries in 45 appearances.

He also had an impressive first season in Super League, scoring five tries in 24 appearances, before injury sidelined him for all of 2018.

He is yet to get off the try mark in six games this season, but Ford added: “There are another two or three levels in him on the field.

“I’m not worried. It’ll come, and when it does come we can all sit back and enjoy it.”

Early fears, meanwhile, are that Carter has torn a hamstring and could be out of action for six weeks.

His absence is likely to bring a recall for Will Jubb, who has made the 19-man squad recently but without getting into the 17.

Ford, additionally, says he is already contemplating further changes to the side for next weekend's visit of fellow high-fliers Sheffield Eagles.

“We had a few players that looked a little bit tired, I thought,” said Ford of Sunday’s win over Fax.

“We will have to look at the data but I’m probably already considering a couple of changes for next week based on body language and energy.”