Mark Applegarth has refused to rule out the possibility of York Knights making more signings as the season progresses.
The Knights have signed 15 players for the 2026 season with a large majority of them joining once promotion to the top flight had been secured. The likes of Paul Vaughan, Sam Wood, Josh Griffin and Jon Bennison provide Super League experience, while a number of players have been brought over from down under, with eyes on John Sagaga and Xavier Va’a to see how they get on after leaving Penrith Panthers and Sydney Roosters respectively.
It’s a relatively new group at the LNER Community Stadium and Applegarth is more than happy with the way they’ve come together as a unit over pre-season.
However, there’s always the possibility of adding more players to the squad in the coming weeks and months, Applegarth admits.
“You never say never,” he told Serious About Rugby League when asked about any further deals. “What I can say to you is, if we got into round one with a fully fit squad and what we’ve got available, we’d be content.
“Coaches are greedy by nature, though, and we always want more just to protect ourselves if anything else. So never say never, but it would have to be identifying gaps that we’re not happy with or a signing that’s just too good to say no to.
Check out the latest episode of The Serious About Rugby League Show on our YouTube channel here.
“We’ve plenty of [salary cap] room, I’ll let Clint [Goodchild] worry about all that. It’s no secret that we’re only getting half the funding, but we’ve got a bit of room to play with.
“I’m more than content with what we’ve got for our maiden year in Super League and we’re looking forward to it.”
York travel to Barrow Raiders in the third round of the Challenge Cup and they do so having played just one pre-season friendly against Huddersfield Giants. Vaughan and Griffin were notable absentees on that occasion, but Applegarth has confirmed that both men are fit and raring to go.
“Like most teams, we’ve got a few bumps and bruises but nothing too major,” the head coach added on injuries. “That’s the nature of the beast playing the sport that we play, you’re going to get a few bumps and bruises every week. Overall I’m pretty happy with how durable we’ve been, touch wood, to date.
“[Vaughan and Griffin are] both fit. I knew what I was getting with both of them. I didn’t see the point in risking them in that friendly coming off the back of long seasons.
“Vaughan had been carrying a bit of a groin injury at the back end of his time at Warrington so we gave him an extra few weeks in pre-season just to make sure he recovered from that, but he’s been fully training and he’ll be fully in contention for Barrow.”
