PAUL Broadbent will welcome many old friends to Huntington Stadium tomorrow as York City Knights entertain Wakefield Trinity Wildcats (kick-off 2.30pm).

The Knights player-coach captained the Wildcats last season and was a big influence in helping the club avoid relegation from Super League. But his commitments are now entirely with his new club.

"At the end of the day what they do tomorrow is not important to me," he told the Evening Press. "It's about us, how we acquit ourselves and how we transfer what we've done on the training field onto the pitch.

"If we do that we should be competitive and cause them as much trouble as they cause us."

Broadbent will obviously not have the chance to play against his old mates as he is out until March as he recovers from shoulder surgery he had at the end of Wakefield's Super League season.

"There's been a big turnaround in their squad in the off-season, with people moving on and a lot of new faces in," said the former Great Britain prop. "But there are a lot who I know from last year and who I'm still mates with.

"As you move around rugby league, you meet a lot of people and most of them are decent guys. You make a lot of friends and you bump into each other at times like these and you can have a natter.

"But we'll be doing that after the game, hopefully after we've put on a convincing display."

The match will be subject to an 11.30am pitch inspection, with Broadbent admitting it was crucial his players got a run-out before competition starts with the Arriva Trains Cup tie at home to Hull KR next week, especially after last week's friendly against Oldham had to be postponed due to a frozen pitch.

"It's very important for us," he said. "We're a new bunch of guys who've just come together. The stuff on the training field has been very heartening, we've been doing some real good stuff.

"But it's a case now of making sure we transfer that across in a game. I'm not expecting it to be the finished product straight away but I would like to see the things we've been working on put into practice."

Aussie recruit Trevor Krause, who only arrived in York in the early hours yesterday, still managed to get to training last night, despite suffering jet-lag, and will be in the squad. Leeds Rhinos loanee Damien Kennedy's loan period has officially begun so he too will be involved, but Alex Godfrey and Matt Blaymire will not risk their injuries.

The three trialists who were to feature last week - David Bolus, who has since signed a contract, Jermaine Coleman and Graham Batty - will get another chance to impress, along with a fourth trialist, Warrington-based Michael Grady, who had a trial with York Wasps last season and has been back training at Huntington Stadium.

"I've tried not to change it much as the lads did not get a run last week to prove whether they should be in or out," added Broadbent.

"It's the same for everyone. Trial games are a lot about people going out there and putting themselves forward for the first competitive game. They've got to look at it individually and say, 'I've got to do my job otherwise I will fall down the pecking order'."

Knights: from Coleman, Molloy, Hallas, Lloyd, Beever, Cain, Yeaman, McTigue, Jackson, Hayes, Ramsden, Fletcher, Callaghan, Krause, Embleton, Westmoreland, Stannard, Bolus, Batty, Grady.

Updated: 10:53 Saturday, January 11, 2003