ANDREW Henderson has remained busy throughout the York Knights’ off-season - and is now ready to go in the Betfred Championship.

Henderson had a rocky introduction to the Knights when joining one year ago, with the head coach joining York in the later stages of pre-season.

But the Knights head coach has been working closely with chairman Clint Goodchild in the off-season, with his trust only growing in his current crop of players.

“It’s great, it was a nice off-season and it was nice to have a little bit of a break,” Henderson enthused.

“Between myself and Clint, we still had a fair bit to sort out in the off-season. That’s the difference when you’re working in the administration of a rugby league club or working in the coaching, you don’t really get an off-season.

“As a player, it’s great. You’ve got your five to six weeks where you can put your feet up and think about having some quality time with friends and family and just worry about yourself.

“You just report back into duty when the time is ready, but it’s different on the other side of the fence. The office staff had a lot to get sorted.

“From the commercial side, the season ticket stuff ready and all of these different events that they’ve had to organise and as coaches we’ve got to be planning.

“It was quite busy. I still managed to get a little bit of a break and enjoyed some quality time with my family and my partner, which was good.

“I’m now back into it. It’s week three because I had a group of younger players from our excel programme and our younger first-team players in amongst that group for a week, just leading into our official start dates.

“Officially, we’re about halfway through week two of our pre-season, and it’s been a really good start. A lot better start than last year.

“If you think 12 months ago, I only confirmed my deal with the club whilst I was away on my family holiday.

“I got back and had about two weeks to prepare everything. You’re under the pump to get around and get to know who everyone is, to get everything sorted, so it was a little bit rushed last year.

“We got through it, but there were a lot of other issues we had to contend with.

“This time round, our squad is fully in place, we’ve got a lot more numbers in training and staff are in place. We’ve had more time to plan and organise the structure of pre-season.

“I feel a lot less pressure on my shoulders. It’s been a really good start for us and a smooth start, which is important.”

Henderson has built a 30-man squad so far for the Betfred Championship season, and has been pleased by the work done by his players in their off-season.

“They’re a good group, I trust them and that’s the key thing.

“We give them the tools and the resources and we’ve only got limited time with them when we have them here with us, that’s the reality.

“There is a little bit of ownership and responsibility on them to do other things and to encourage them to do other bits away from us.

“In the off-season they had their break and their off-season programme to tick us over, leading into pre-season to allow us to accelerate a little bit quicker through the pre-season and into where we want to be.

“It’s nice to be able to progress a little bit quicker because physically they are in better shape. We put that trust in our players and the boys have all come in in pretty good shape.”