YORK KNIGHTS head coach Mark Applegarth has hailed Cameron McInnes as a ‘quality player’ but denied any deal has been done.
Recent speculation had linked the Knights with Cronulla Sharks hard man McInnes, who had previously been linked with new NRL side Perth Bears.
But Applegarth has confirmed York’s interest in the 32-year-old.
“I don’t know, you’d have to ask Clint (Goodchild, York’s owner) on that one,” Applegarth said.
“Cam is a quality player and I think anyone that has followed rugby league for the last few years would know that.
“Is he a player that I’d be interested in? 100% he is, not only for what he can do on the field but I think culturally with the standards that a player like that sets for himself.
“You listen to how his current head coach, Craig Fitzgibbon, speaks about him and I think that tells you everything you need to know. If he is linked with us, excellent, but you’d have to ask Clint if there is any truth in that.
Applegarth went further, admitting that he would be ‘over the moon’ if York did get such a deal over the line.
“We’re on a journey ourselves and we’re not naive enough to think we wouldn’t have to supplement the current squad we’ve got.
“We know that we’ve got a good core group and this year is great that we’re exposing that core group to Super League and we’ve supplemented it with players such as Sam Wood and Paul Vaughan etc, but we also know we need to keep on strengthening.
“If players of Cam’s calibre come available and Clint can get deals such as that signed then I’d be over the moon and delighted because they’re only going to strengthen, not only what we do on the field but what we do off the field as well.
“If Clint has got anything to announce then I’m sure he will announce it.”