YORK Knights head coach Andrew Henderson has hailed the work ethic of young centre Oli Pratt, whom he believes is beginning to bear the fruits of his labour.

Former Heworth youngster Pratt first linked up with his hometown club on loan from Betfred Super League strugglers Wakefield Trinity in May, making his debut in their 30-28 victory over London Broncos that weekend.

At first finding himself named as a regular starter, the return of players from injury saw Pratt began to slide down the pecking order, failing to feature in any of the Knights’ matches in July.

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But the teenager has not missed a match since August 5, a run of three tries and a handful of assists in his last four games prompting many to admit that the youngster is back to his best.

York Press: Pratt was voted the Man of the Match after a standout performance against Swinton Lions on Sunday.Pratt was voted the Man of the Match after a standout performance against Swinton Lions on Sunday. (Image: Craig Hawkhead)

Pratt earned the Man of the Match after crossing for a brace of tries in the Knights’ 26-22 victory over Swinton Lions on Sunday, with Henderson delighted to see his hard work paying off on the pitch after he was delivered some home truths.

“I thought that he played well,” he enthused.

“I’m really pleased for Oli because we brought him in because we could see the potential and the talent that he has.

“He’s still a very young player, and he’s still in the early stages of his development journey, but we brought him in to add some value to the team, and I think that he’s done that.

“He came in and he made a couple of decent performances, but then his form dropped off a little bit so he had to take a seat. I had to sit him down and say ‘we need to work on this, we need to work on that’.

“I’ll give him a lot of credit because obviously with the time he’s gone back to Wakefield, and in the time that he’s still been training with us, he’s been working on fixing those areas up within his game.

“He’s then come back into the side, on the bench originally, and built his way back into the starting team.

“I’m really pleased for him because he’s put the work in and is now bearing the fruits of that.

“I’m just pleased with how Oli has responded, he’s come back and added real value to the team right now.”