COACH Mick Cook reckons his York City Knights side are in for a tough encounter tomorrow in their last friendly of pre-season.

The Knights visit Hull (ko 7.30pm) and, although the Super League giants will now be without new signings Stephen Kearney and Motu Tony, they will field several first-teamers.

Kiwi duo Kearney and Tony were hoping to make their debuts but picked up injuries in Hull's warm weather training camp in Spain, from where the Black and Whites were today returning. Kearney is now unlikely to play until the opening game of Super League, against Leeds on February 11, though Tony is expected to play in the friendly against St Helens on February 2.

However, club captain Richard Swain will play for the first time in 2005 after recovering from flu, and crowd-puller Nathan Blacklock will make his second appearance after his try-scoring debut against Hull KR. Fit-again Peter Lupton also returns, though half the 20-man squad is made up of fringe players.

Cook said: "We need a contest and that team will give us more than a contest. It's a fair mix of youth and experience.

"They had a young team against Featherstone and took them to the cleaners so it's going to be tough.

"But for us, the game is not about Hull but about York. We're looking at improving on things that we weren't too good at versus Doncaster in our previous friendly."

Updated: 10:29 Tuesday, January 25, 2005