YORK City Knights have utilised their partnership with Leeds Rhinos to bring promising second-row forward Jason Golden to Huntington Stadium.

The Leeds-born 20-year-old has joined on loan for a year, in a similar deal to the one that brought winger Peter Fox to the club last season.

Six-footer Golden, a former England Under-17 and U18 international, is now set to make his debut for York in Sunday's pre-season friendly against his parent club at Huntington Stadium, the Knights' first outing of 2006.

"He's a hard-working bloke, very honest and pretty tough," said Knights boss Mick Cook, who coached Golden while heading up the Rhinos' Academy.

"He's come through a good system at Leeds since he left school and he's got a great attitude, which is as good as any I've seen with rugby players. He's a decent bloke as well, which is what we want around the place."

Golden (pictured) actually asked to come to York to further his development and, after he trained with the Knights last week, an agreement has now been reached between the player and the two clubs to keep him at the LHF National League Two champions, though Leeds can recall him at any time.

Said Cook: "He talked it over with (Rhinos coach) Tony Smith, who feels his next level is to play against grown men in NL1 rather than staying in the Academy, and he sees this year as a big development year for himself."

Golden first joined Leeds in 2001 from top amateur club Oulton Raiders having previously played for Hunslet Parkside.

He helped the Rhinos' Academy side win their Grand Final in 2003 and was an important member of the senior Academy side in 2005 as they won both the League Championship and the Grand Final.

Rhinos' extra power

LEEDS Rhinos are set to bring a strong line-up to take on York on Sunday - with former Knights heroes Peter Fox and Ian Kirke included in the starting 13.

The Evening Press understands that the reigning World Club Champions plan to start with a predominantly Super League strength side - minus Great Britain players - for the Knights' opening friendly of 2006.

Fox and Kirke - the latter's proposed loan move to Harlequins is now up in the air - will also be included as they bid to boost their chances of winning a Super League shirt for next season, while the Rhinos are likely to use other young players among their substitutes.

Sunday's match, which is expected to attract a crowd of around 3,000, kicks off at 3pm.

Updated: 09:12 Tuesday, January 10, 2006