ON-LOAN hooker Denive Balmforth insists his time at York Knights is working wonders for his game.
He is now well into a season-long loan deal from Hull FC and proving his worth off the bench.
Although the Knights have found wins hard to come by in their maiden campaign in Super League, they haven’t been without big individual performers.
Balmforth, 22, has impressed with a series of positive impacts as a replacement, often after spelling former Man of Steel Paul McShane.
He said: “I am loving my time here. I’ve been here since pre-season and made pretty good connections.
“I’ve worked with Mash (coach Mark Applegarth) in the past. He’s someone I can go to about anything, away from rugby as well, so it makes life a bit easier.
“It’s definitely great for my progression playing every week at the highest standard. It’s only going to benefit me learning off Macca (McShane) as well. He’s huge. He is good.
“I’ve had it quite lucky, to be fair. I had (former Man of Steel) Danny (Houghton) at Hull and now Macca as hookers to learn from. Macca’s coming to the end of his career but I can just feed off of him and take stuff from his game into mine. It’s really beneficial.”
Hull currently have ex-Wigan rake Amir Bourouh as their main dummy-half operator while Aussie Cade Cust can replace him off the bench.
Asked what the future holds, Balmforth, who is contracted at Hull until the end of 2028, insisted: “I’m not sure.
“It’s week by week. I’m here for the year and then who’ll know what will happen.”
The Wales international has been ever-present and has helped York pick up wins against Hull KR, parent club Hull and Toulouse.
He had plenty of experience during a ten-game loan spell at Catalans Dragons last term and it will be intriguing to see what incoming Hull coach Steve McNamara does with him in 2027.
For now, Balmforth conceded: “At times, we’ve been our own worst enemies.
“It’s been a similar case a few times this season. We start to build pressure and then ill-discipline lets our opponents march down the field.
“But we’ve shown what we can do at other times.
“One win and the tide changes in this league. You’re back in the mix.”