York Knights have to ‘park it’ and move on after their huge defeat at the hands of Wigan Warriors with head coach Mark Applegarth confirming that changes will likely be made on the back of the performance.
The Knights lost 72-20 against Wigan although the Warriors led 72-0 by the hour mark. Applegarth has admitted that the 20 points scored by York were important as they highlighted the desire for a response, but he’s seeking an 80-minute response on Friday night when the Knights travel to Castleford.
Speaking to the media on Tuesday and asked about Saturday’s heavy loss, Applegarth admitted: “You have got to park it, it’s life isn’t it? Bad things happen and it’s how you respond to that. Saturday was Saturday, I thought we came up against a red-hot Wigan team that were excellent.
“We had a pretty honest review about it on Monday morning. We said what we needed to say and then we parked it. It’s full focus on what will be another tough game on Friday night versus Castleford.”
One man whose return would be a major boost against his old side would be Paul McShane with Applegarth confirming that there’s a chance the former Man of Steel plays.
The coach explained: “He’s back training. He was back training last week, obviously on a managed gradual return to play. We’re hoping Macca will make it, he’ll be in the 21, but we’ll leave him until Friday to see if he makes it or not.”
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York Knights boss confirms possible changes for Castleford Tigers clash
One thing that Applegarth was keen to point out was that McShane would not play if not 100% fit, pointing to recent selection calls of players with knocks resulting in the club being punished.
“If Macca gets declared fit, he’ll be declared fit,” Applegarth explained, adding: “I don’t think we’re at a stage as a team yet where we can afford to carry lads that are 50-50. I’ve carried a couple that are 90-10 and he showed a couple there. I think moving forward, we just need to go with people that seem to be 100%.”
One of those players who was described previously as carrying a knock and was therefore hooked at half-time in the loss to Wigan was Toa Mata’afa, though he’ll be in line to face Castleford.
Applegarth confirmed: “Toa will be in the 21. We were trying to do the right thing by Toa and the team.
“Toa had aggravated his knee a little bit throughout the week. He’d got into the game carrying the bump a little bit and I just thought how sharp Wigan were on them kicks behind. We’d just missed the jump slightly.
“I just thought I’d do the right thing by Toa and having the luxury of Jon Bennison on the bench, it was a no-brainer in that sense as the game had gone at half-time at 44-0.”
As for other elements of team selection that came under the microscope, the Knights boss said: “I won’t get into the ins and outs of team selection, but ultimately what team I pick is on me. There’s always things behind the scenes on who you can and can’t pick in terms of people carrying bumps that sometimes we don’t make public. I know there were a lot of questions, for example, over carrying one middle at that moment in time.
“We felt that we were where we were there. That’s where the strongest 17 would be. Naturally, that’s on me as head coach.
“Obviously, whatever we did last Saturday didn’t work, so there may be one or two changes and we’ll crack on from there.”
