\n The Knights head to Doncaster knowing that a win could finalise a top spot finish, should second-placed Toulouse Olympique lose to Batley Bulldogs on Saturday.\n<\/p>\n
\n It would also be an incredible 18th straight win in all competitions for York, who have not suffered defeat since mid-April, against Featherstone Rovers.\n<\/p>\n
\n Therefore it is difficult for Applegarth to name changes to his side, but the Head Coach is considering adding players back into the squad that have been absent of late \u2013 including a potential debut.\n<\/p>\n
\n Harry Fraser may be involved with the Knights for the first time, whilst Sam Cook is available after recovering from a lateral collateral ligament injury [LCL].\n<\/p>\n
\n Ukuma Ta\u2019ai is also in contention for Applegarth, having missed the Knights\u2019 previous 16-8 win at Toulouse Olympique as his partner recently gave birth.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cUkuma has just been blessed with a baby girl, so I didn\u2019t want to bring him over to Toulouse,\u201d Applegarth confirmed.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cI wanted him to have a bit of downtime with his family and enjoy that time.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cHe\u2019s been great for us this year and he\u2019ll be in contention, I just didn\u2019t think it was right to bring him over on the travel with all that.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cEspecially with him getting older, I didn\u2019t want to risk any injury, but most importantly I wanted him to get a bit of time with his own young family.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cHe has been training and has been absolutely fantastic, not only for what he delivers in terms of who he is as a player and a person, but our young lads have really benefited from the experience that he\u2019s been passing on.\u201d\n<\/p>\n
\n Fraser is also in contention for the first time since signing from Australian outfit Northern Hawks, who are a feeder club to Newcastle Knights.\n<\/p>\n
\n The 22-year-old arrived with a small injury, but has now recovered and could make his debut at Doncaster.\n<\/p>\n
\n Applegarth confirmed to the Press: \u201cHarry is in contention. He trained really well on Tuesday, so he\u2019ll be in the mix.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cIt\u2019s a case now where unless there\u2019s injuries, lads need to show why they need to be in that team and above the people that are already in it.\u201d\n<\/p>\n
\n Cook is the final returning player to be in contention, having not featured for the Knights since their 19-12 win at Halifax Panthers.\n<\/p>\n
\n Applegarth also provided an update on Hull KR loanee Danny Richardson, who was initially pencilled in to be available for the match with Doncaster.\n<\/p>\n
\n However, Applegarth confirmed that Richardson will not be involved for the Knights in their regular season, but could be used as back-up in the upcoming play-offs.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cSam Cook is back fully fit and is training. He\u2019ll be in contention.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cDanny still hasn\u2019t joined us, we\u2019ve left him with Hull KR to focus on his recovery.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cI think he\u2019s just started running on the gravity treadmills this week, so Danny will be probably joining us after the Batley game for the play-offs.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cHe\u2019ll be a great body to have around with his experience, but at the same time, unless we have any injuries, I\u2019d like to back what\u2019s been with us all season.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cDanny understands that, it\u2019ll be good to see him back fully fit and ready for if he is needed for the play-offs.\u201d\n<\/p>\n
\n York\u2019s recent win at Toulouse took a monumental effort from Applegarth\u2019s players, who weren\u2019t without casualty from the heated battle.\n<\/p>\n
\n Brenden Santi was one player who was forced off with a head injury, having taken a knock to the head for his troubles.\n<\/p>\n
\n A free week for the Knights has seen the prop make a full recovery, with Santi in contention for Sunday.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cHe\u2019s [Santi] alright, the bi-week probably came at a great time.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cIt let everyone refresh physically and mentally, and Sants is a tough cookie.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cHe puts his head where it hurts most weeks, so he\u2019ll be fine and is fully in contention for Sunday.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cTouch wood [there are no fresh injuries], not unless we get any in training.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cEveryone got through it okay, Kieran Hudson isn\u2019t far off getting back into training.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cHe obviously failed that head assessment against Oldham, he\u2019s getting back into the group now so he should only be a week or two away.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cEveryone else should be as it were.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Knights head to Doncaster knowing that a win could finalise a top spot finish, should second-placed Toulouse…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":117174,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[5903,101,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-117173","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-rugby","8":"tag-rugby","9":"tag-sports","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom","12":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/117173","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=117173"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/117173\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/117174"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=117173"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=117173"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=117173"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}