ANDREW HENDERSON was pleased by the test that his York Knights squad received against Wakefield Trinity on Sunday, admitting that it gave him ‘food for thought’.

The Knights head coach felt Wakefield’s AB Sundecks 1895 Cup visit on Sunday, which ended 40-4, was a good test for his players after a emphatic 114-10 victory over Newcastle Thunder the weekend prior, with Henderson enjoying the different dynamics on show.

Henderson has since identified the problems which the York head coach hopes to solve, but did confess that he wouldn’t be reading too much into the contest with Wakefield the current favourites for the Betfred Championship title.

“We wanted to have a look at a slightly different dynamic this week than the week before, and it’s given us some food for thought as coaches,” Henderson explained.

“We did need a good test, we certainly got that. It was important and I’ve made it clear over the last few weeks that everything is building towards round one in March, it’s important we get some good competitive fixtures in before the season starts.

“Traditionally that would be a couple of friendlies leading into your first game, but it’s a little bit different this year round with these different cup competitions over a six to eight week period, prior to the season starting.

“At the end of the day, I’m not reading too much into it, it was a good hit out for us and we certainly got a lot out of it.

“We’ve learned that defensively there are some areas there that we need to fix up, that ruck area, our contact in the management was a little bit off at the weekend.

Henderson reflected on the contest by confessing that York weren’t at their best, and felt that the Knights’ poor start contributed to the eventual defeat.

“We weren’t at our best, there’s no doubt about that.

“Around the ruck we were very loose, especially in our game management but sometimes systematically we got broken down as well.

“There’s a lot of things here that we need to address and fix up going forward, but for me this is the first genuine competitive hit out that we’ve had this year.

“They started the game extremely well and it was an interesting contest for us as it was such a poor start, but the way we managed to dig in for each other and keep the scoreline respectable was pleasing.”