MARK APPLEGARTH has allayed concerns of being unable to field a York Knights team for Saturday’s Challenge Cup quarter-final at Hull KR.
York had only 17 players available for their last Super League game at Huddersfield Giants, not naming an 18th man, and reports afterwards suggested Applegarth could struggle to name a full side.
Injuries continue to cause issues with Will Dagger (head) the latest to be sidelined.
Danny Richardson (quad) “potentially won’t be far off”, according to Applegarth, while Sam Wood isn’t certain to return following a broken finger.
Many of York’s fringe players are ineligible, having played for Newcastle Thunder earlier in the competition.
“It’s been a bit sensationalised, those headlines. We’ll have 17 blokes going as hard as they can to get a victory for York Knights in a quarter-final of the Challenge Cup,” said the coach.
“I’m confident that whatever team we put out, as long as we stick true to our identity, our standards and our application, especially with defensive intent, we’ll be a match for anyone.
“We’ll have a 17 out there to go hammer and tongs for victory.”
Applegarth voiced great displeasure straight after last Saturday’s 34-14 loss to Huddersfield, saying that “one or two (players) have just probably not bought into the squad”.
Speaking on Wednesday, he explained his frustration and said a line had now been drawn.
“What I can say is the players knew themselves we’d not hit our standard. It was a pretty blunt and honest review,” said Applegarth.
“The first person I have to look at is myself, before I look at other people and their standards.
“Once we finished that review, we drew a line in the sand and it’s all eyes on Saturday’s quarter-final.”
He added: “If there’s one thing as a coach I like to pride the team on, it’s that we’ll never be questioned on our application and intent.
“I just felt for a ten-minute period at the start of the game we let ourselves down on that front. That’s something I’ll never accept and that’s probably why I was a little bit upset after the game.
“But no one went out there with bad intentions. It happens, we can’t change that, we can just learn from it.
“Luckily, I have a group that I trust, that has high standards, and they know we let ourselves down in that respect. They’re desperate to get back out there and correct that.”