SLIGHT irony here but last week’s column, which mentioned how confusion over dual-registration last year had been cleared up by new rulings, was itself hit by confusion.

It was widely thought that parent clubs had to decide by yesterday where their dual-reg players would see out the season - the parent club or the loaning club.

Yesterday, of course, was transfer deadline day across professional rugby league this year.

But it has since come to light that such decisions on DR must be made before the next round of fixtures, not this weekend’s round of fixtures.

It basically means Castleford must decide before next weekend, not this weekend, whether to keep Michael Channing at Wheldon Road for the rest of term or allow him to continue playing his part in York’s promotion battle.

It is pretty much a given, meanwhile, that Jordan Howden will stay with York on dual-reg, with the Knights seemingly keen to keep him beyond the end of this season, while we also obviously now know where James Clare’s future lies.

This time last week we wondered if he, along with Channing, would play out the season at Cas or York after his successful stint on dual-reg, but within 24 hours it became known the answer was neither - with Bradford Bulls signing him from the Tigers.

Knights boss James Ford has often sang the 24-year-old’s praises but it was Clare’s, pictured, turn to return the favour this week on his arrival at the Championship promotion-seekers.

“The move was definitely a shock,” he said, having swapped his deal at his beloved home-town club for one with the Bulls until the end of next season. “But I think it’s the right decision at this point in my life and my career to take up this opportunity at Bradford.

“Speaking to all the Bradford players and meeting all the backroom staff, I genuinely feel the club deserves to go up.”

On York, he said: “I’m extremely thankful for everything that York City Knights and James Ford have done for me.

“They have been absolutely fantastic. I know dual-reg has been slated and it doesn’t always work, but I think I’m an example of where it has worked and worked well.

“Both myself and York have benefited and it was the best thing for me at that point in my career.”