IT probably wasn't what York City Knights wanted to hear, but they'll just have to get on with it.

No, I'm not talking about this week's Powergen Challenge Cup draw which - surprise, surprise - is away from home again and against a Super League side, Huddersfield, who do not guarantee a bumper pay-day.

I'm talking about the new rules in the LHF Healthplan National League, which kicks off this weekend.

The announcement that two teams, not one, automatically go down from NL1 is sod's law for York on two counts.

Firstly, two teams now definitely come up from NL2 - one by finishing top, the other by winning the play-offs - whereas York a year ago had the tougher job of getting a sole automatic promotion spot.

Secondly, the year when they will be battling to consolidate their position in the higher tier, the job is made harder as an extra team goes down.

Of course, two teams went down last season but at the time it was thought to be a one-off knock-on effect of Les Catalans' arrival in Super League. Previously, the second-bottom team went into the NL2 play-offs and, on each occasion, they won the Grand Final to stay up, Halifax beating the Knights in 2004 being a case in point.

Naturally, if this was still the scenario, York would have the same goal of avoiding the bottom two, but they would have had a second chance of survival had they finished second-bottom.

Sod's law aside, the new promotion/relegation rule is probably a good thing for the competition itself, not least because it gets rid of a convoluted NL2 play-off system which involves a team from NL1 - giving said NL1 team the chance to lift a trophy for effectively having a bad season.

It is certainly fairer on NL2 clubs for the simple reason more than one team have deserved to be promoted each year, while it could be argued that more than one team have deserved to go down.

Additionally, it is not as if NL1 clubs have only just found out. The public announcement might only have been made on the eve of the season but clubs were consulted about it privately and the Knights were thus aware long ago what their task of avoiding relegation entailed.

I imagine, however, that the new rule is all part of the package to make the National League a more viable competition in its own right ahead of the incoming franchise system for Super League.

Even without the potential £100,000 prize fund for the NL1 winners, which was also unveiled, the idea of two up two down adds greater interest to the National League as more clubs have more to lose or more to gain within the two divisions and without Super League.

This isn't a bad thing - though there is a fear it could lead to a bigger yo-yo scenario between NL1 and NL2.

Even though some fans argue that top clubs in NL2 are better than bottom clubs in NL1, results in previous NL2 play-offs, plus the fact NL2 champions have so far fallen straight back down, have shown that teams at the bottom of NL1 generally see off teams at the top of NL2.

Hence, whoever comes up would be favourites to go back down - and with two teams rather than one involved, probability of an increased yo-yo culture is greater.

Paradoxically, an end to this yo-yoing may only be brought about in the long-term by an even more damaging scenario - when promotion to Super League, via a franchise, becomes so limited that it is effectively scrapped.

In this case, rather than encouraging some top National League clubs to push for full-time status, it may mean they think twice about its advantages.

This would lead to NL1 teams being more evenly-matched from top to bottom - but then the dream of playing at the highest level has been taken away.

AS it stands, National League One is more than likely to be a two-tier division.

The Evening Press carried a rundown of the Knights' NL1 rivals in the big preview of the 2006 season in February - and little has happened to change those predictions.

We reckoned that Widnes, Leigh, Hull KR and Whitehaven would form their own mini-league at the top, with a few clubs in a league of their own at the bottom.

All three full-timers were untroubled in progressing through the Northern Rail Cup group section, with only one surprise defeat between them - Leigh being beaten by NL2 club Swinton having already assured themselves of top spot - while Whitehaven won all their six games.

Rochdale, one of the sides vying for the lower play-off spots, also won all six, and this provided probably the only mild surprise given that Halifax, another of those sides, were in their group. Halifax still finished second, while Doncaster comfortably won their pool.

The two teams we predicted would be in the relegation dogfight, Oldham and Batley, failed to progress after finishing third in their respective groups.

Perhaps encouragingly, if Northern Rail results were translated into league standings, the Knights, with five points, would finish third-bottom above Oldham and Batley, both on four.

I reckon most Knights supporters would settle for that come September.

LESS encouragingly, some bookies think differently.

William Hill has York as the 150-1 rank outsiders for the NL1 title, with Batley on 125-1 and Oldham 100-1. Going by these odds, Billy predicts York and Batley will go down.

Leigh are the 13-8 favourites to win NL1 with Widnes and Hull KR both 2-1 and last year's table-toppers, Whitehaven, as long as 16-1. Rochdale are 20-1, with Doncaster and Halifax 25-1.

FORMER Knight Darren Robinson is on the move again.

The hooker cum back-rower, who has had his fair share of clubs in recent years, has quit Batley, the Knights' NL1 rivals, after being left out of the team. He has been linked with a move to Hunslet.

Meanwhile, a more popular ex-Knight at Batley, Chris Langley, is facing another spell on the treatment table after tweaking his troublesome hamstring.

THE Supporters' Club are running two coaches to tomorrow's game at Widnes.

The coach going direct from Huntington Stadium at 11.30am is full, but there are a few places on the second which leaves the stadium at 11.15am with the usual pick-up points through the city.

Prices are £11 adults, £9 over-60s and students, £5 Under-16s and £1 accompanied U12s. For bookings, call 07958 569266 leaving name, membership number and pick-up point.

THE Evening Press/Collier Plant Hire player of the year table will be updated next week.

Home from home

AS for the Challenge Cup draw (as mentioned in the opening gambits of this column), just what do the Knights have to do to get a home match?

Even two former York coaches couldn't get them a tie at Huntington Stadium as Roger Millward and Lee Crooks, who pulled the balls out, conspired to send them to Huddersfield.

It is now nine consecutive draws - nine - since the Knights were last given a home tie in the competition.

Of course, one of those games - against amateurs Elland in the third round last year - was played at Huntington but it was still an 'away' tie.

Furthermore, the last time the Knights were drawn at home, way back at the start of the 2004 season, they only got that because they got Villeneuve, and French clubs were not allowed to play third-round ties at home.

If memory serves me right, York's name came out of the hat second even that day. If so, it is ten draws since the Knights came out first - when they lost 21-20 to Doncaster in the fourth round in February 2003.