CONGRATULATIONS to Harry Carter - whose eye-opening start to the new season has brought him The Press Player of the Month award for March.

Unsurprisingly given York City Knights' unbeaten form, several players were in the running - Ed Smith, Jack Aldous, Danny Nicklas, Jonny Presley, Russ Spiers and Richard Wilkinson among them.

But Carter - the player who so far has shown the most improvement since last year, perhaps benefitting the most from a proper pre-season this time around after homelessness 12 months ago - just about topped the poll.

Head coach James Ford said it was deserved reward for the 22-year-old hooker, whose all-round game - his contacts in defence, scoots from dummy-half and game management - has gone up a few levels.

"He's started to show his potential we all knew he had," said Ford, who has backed the little tearaway since teaching him at Wakefield College.

"I still feel there's more in him but we're seeing his confidence growing and his contributions to the team have been fantastic.

"I'm really pleased with what he's doing in training and on game day. He's bigger and stronger this year and that shows in his contacts both with and without the ball."

Ford added: "However, I think everybody is performing to high standards so it's difficult to single individuals out."

Singling players out - unfortunately at times like this - is what we have to do for The Press Player of the Year standings, however.

Carter gets three bonus points for his tally thanks to his March award.

The other players to add to their totals since the leaderboard was last updated - as our first, second and third best performers in each match - are listed.

Against Keighley: Mike Emmett 3pts, Carter 2pts, Wilkinson 1pt.

Against Doncaster: Wilkinson 3pts, Spiers 2pts, Nicklas 1pt.

Against Rochdale: Presley 3pts, Turner 2pts, Nicklas 1pt.

The Press Player of the Year leaderboard: Carter 8pts, Wilkinson 7, E Smith 5, Spiers 4, Emmett 3, Presley 3, Nicklas 3, Turner 3, Morland 2, Mallinder 1.

IT was another good do by all accounts at the annual Hall of Fame dinner.

As reported by The Press, eight legends of York RL were inducted this year - Graham Sullivan, John Crossley, Peter Foster, Steve Dobson, Dave Rippon, old hooking rivals Stewart Horton and Alan Pallister, who were unable to attend, and the late Stan Flannery, who was represented at the event by his granddaughter Dawn Hunter.

The criteria for inclusion in this list is that players must have played in four seasons for York and been retired for five years.

Of that octet, winger Foster is York's all-time record try-scorer with 169 from 338 appearances between 1955 and 1967, while Crossley bagged the most ever in one season, with 35 in 1981, before being sold to moneybag new-boys Fulham for £25,000.

Flannery, meanwhile, who passed away 23 years ago, made 299 appearances from 1956 to 1967, with one of his 76 tries being York's touchdown in the 1957 Yorkshire Cup final defeat to Huddersfield.

Sullivan is remembered not only for one of the greatest cover tackles ever seen at Huntington Stadium, against Halifax in front of a packed house, but also as the last player to score points at Clarence Street in 1989 and the first to score at Huntington.

Here's a quirky one too: he was also subject of a "what happened next?" question on BBC's Question of Sport - as he lined up a penalty shot at goal against Leeds at Headingley.

On a sodden winter's day, the turf gave way underneath him, he slipped, knocked the ball just a few feet, and Leeds picked it up and ran up the other end to score.

Pallister, now living in Australia, is something of a local hero in York rugby circles, having been one of few to stick around during the difficult final months of York Wasps and, on their demise, going back to amateur club New Earswick to play and coach and continue giving something back to the game.

He was unlucky, too, that his testimonial year came in the last full season of the struggling Wasps as they limped through financial strife.

The dinner - a sell-out affair at Chalkers Restaurant, at New Earswick Bowls Club, organised by the Knights Independent Supporters Society (KISS) - was attended by the Lord Mayor of York Coun Sonja Crisp, the Leader of the Council Chris Steward, and Rachael Maskell, the MP for Inner York, who presented the awards.

TALKING of Hall of Famers, Gary Hall, one of the KISS committee men, has regaled a tale that shows Mick Sullivan to be a rugby league legend off the field as well as on it.

Sullivan, one of only 25 players in the Rugby Football League's Hall of Fame, passed away this week, aged 82.

The Great Britain great starred for Huddersfield, Wigan and St Helens before playing two years at York and then finishing his career in England as player-coach at home town club Dewsbury.

Said Hall: "When he played in the second Test against the Australian tourists in 1963, I was a ten-year-old looking for autographs.

"Mick Sullivan took my autograph book and got it signed by the whole Great Britain team and the Australians as well.

"Things like that stick with you all your life.

"He was an international star, and I was a little kid, but he made a point of doing that.

"Things like that made me continue watching rugby league."

ROCHDALE'S Chris Riley has been banned for one match following his red card against the Knights last week.

Riley was sent off for dissent late on and offered an early guilty plea to his charge of foul and abusive language towards a match official.

It was unclear at the time what Riley was complaining about to referee Andy Sweet but since then the RFL disciplinary were asked to consider alleged stamping by Mike Emmett on the winger, so it is fair to assume that was the grumble.

However, the video panel deemed Emmett had no charge to answer, intimating that any contact was accidental or incidental. Its report stated: "Player’s foot makes contact with opponent’s hand while player is standing up. Player is not looking at opponent’s hand when contact is made."

ON the subject of RFL disciplinaries, Doncaster's ex-York second-row, Joe Pickets-O'Donnell, was not called before the beaks following his misdemeanours against the Knights a fortnight ago.

Pickets was sin-binned in the 59th minute of the match after two late tackles inside 30 seconds.

The panel deemed the yellow card was sufficient punishment.

It stated: "Player makes late tackle on opponent, followed by (outlawed) shoulder charge technique making contact with opponent after ball has been kicked. Referee considered both offences resulting in player being temporarily dismissed. Sin-bin sufficient."

There was no mention on the disciplinary list of the incident in the first half when Pickets' late tackle on Danny Nicklas left the stand-off with a bloodied head and needing stitches.