York Knights head coach Mark Applegarth has shared a comprehensive injury update with one forward not quite as close as he may have previously suggested, something that’s seen the head coach receive a ‘wrist slap’ from the medical team.
The Knights head coach spoke at the club’s pre-match presser on Wednesday with York since naming their 20-man squad, which has confirmed a number of the returnees that Applegarth spoke about.
One man who isn’t back and won’t be for a while is Jordan Thompson with the veteran forward having suffered a torn bicep in early March. Applegarth had spoken recently, expressing hope that Thompson wouldn’t be too far away but he corrected himself this week.
“I got a bit of a wrist slap off the medical team there,” Applegarth responded.
“My expectation and the actual reality were two different things. Jordy is making great progress, he’s back in skill drills. Let’s say another four weeks or so but he’s making good progress.
“Naturally, what I see and the medical staff see, whose job it is to understand it, are two different things. Jordy is tough, he’ll put his hand up but we’ve obviously got to be smart. We don’t want to bring him back too early and have it reoccur.”
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York Knights injury run-down
Whilst Thompson won’t be back this week, three players are back with forward Kieran Hudson and full-back options Will Dagger and Toa Mata’afa all returning, with Applegarth speaking about the trio.
He confirmed: “Kieran (Hudson) is back in full training. We got a bit of good news on that, we thought it was going to be worse than it was but it’s great to see Kieran back. He’s been back in full training for about a week so he’s looking well.
“Will Dagger (calf) is back in full training, he’s trained fully for the last week and is looking really sharp so he’s back in contention.
“Toa Mata’afa (dislocated elbow), believe it or not, was not far off the St Helens game so he’s been back in full training for the last 10-12 days and he’s looking alright.”
One man who dropped out of the squad was Oli Field with Applegarth setting a return date out for him, as well as offering an update on two half-back options.
“Oli (Field) has just had to have a broken finger reset,” the York boss announced, adding: “He had a bit of a spiral fracture in it and I’m hoping he should be (back) around the Bradford game (June, 5th).
“Liam Harris (hamstring) is ahead of schedule but he’s still two or three weeks away yet and Danny Richardson (thigh) is back in full training now, he seems to have got over the injury he had.”
𝟐𝟎 𝐏𝐥𝐚𝐲𝐞𝐫 𝐒𝐪𝐮𝐚𝐝 𝐩𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐝 𝐛𝐲 𝐉𝐮𝐝𝐠𝐞 𝐄𝐥𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐫𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐥 💡
Head Coach, Mark Applegarth, has confirmed his 20 Player squad for Saturday’s Befred Super League match against @CTRLFC at the LNER Community Stadium (3pm KO)
🔗 Details here:… pic.twitter.com/UeVCFMRxoo
— York RLFC Knights (@YorkRLFC) May 14, 2026
