Mark Applegarth to not ‘tinker’ with settled York Knights line-up

The Knights boss has rarely tinkered with his team recently, but after seven wins in a row and just one defeat in 12, he’s been glad to see York reaping the rewards of a settled spine.

The likes of Toa Mata’afa, Liam Harris, Ata Hingano, Paul McShane and all the way through to Jordan Thompson have all been heavily involved as of late, giving the Knights a welcome stability in their recent AB Sundecks 1895 Cup glory and their rise up the Betfred Championship table.

Applegarth believes that it will again be key for their trip to Widnes Vikings this Sunday, but was also aware that one defeat could see that spine break apart.

“Your spine is the heartbeat of the team and is what everything else is based off, so you want to keep that as settled as you can,” Applegarth urged.

“At the same time, it’s easy when they are all playing and are all doing their jobs exactly as you want it.

“We’re really happy that it’s settled, but things can change quickly in rugby.

“You’re always thinking about plan B and C if you need it, but when the plan A is working, you obviously keep on polishing that.”

The Knights could make changes for their trip to Widnes, but as shown recently, Applegarth has been somewhat reluctant to switch a winning team.

He therefore will try to not ‘tinker’ too much unless required, although he does want to see an improvement on the 20-18 win at Bradford Bulls last Sunday.

Applegarth admitted: “I’ll definitely not tinker too much if we can’t help it, Widnes are coming back into form now.

“They had a few injuries but are getting a few of those back, but Allan [Coleman, Widnes Head Coach] plays a very expansive game of rugby so we’re under no illusions that it will be a very tough game.

“We won’t be looking at reinventing the wheel, it will be a case of looking at where we can improve.

“I still think that there is a significant improvement in us, and just getting ready for another tough game of rugby league on Sunday.”