THESE are exciting times for York City Knights.

That's the opinion of new club captain Scott Rhodes, who is hopeful his side can treat the Huntington Stadium faithful to an exhilarating season.

The 27-year-old, now the club's longest-serving player, has likened the current set-up under new player-coach Paul March to the 2004 Richard Agar era, when a free-flowing brand of rugby league took the Knights to the National League Two play-off final.

And he hopes the present posse of Knights young-guns can go one step further and emulate Mick Cook's heroes of 2005 in winning promotion.

"There's been a total turnaround from last season," said the stand-off, who is just one of 11 players retained from 2007 out of a first-team squad of 32.

"There are a lot of new players and a lot of young lads who have come in. There's a bit of a mixture, with quite a few ex-amateurs coming in, and they're shaping up well.

"It's brought another dimension to the club. They're young and enthusiastic and everybody is up for training, which has been going really well.

"It's exciting times I think. It reminds me a bit of the Agar era. Maybe that's because he was a half-back and Paul March is a half-back."

Scrum-half March has arrived from Super League side Wakefield and is in his debut season as a player-coach at professional level, at the relatively young age of 28. Asked if he liked working under the new boss, Rhodes joked: "Yes - if he gives me a bit more ball."

Unfortunately, the broken hand injury suffered in the last friendly of pre-season means March will have to sit out the start of the season, but Rhodes was looking forward to reforming their half-back partnership when the player-boss returned to action.

He went on: "He's good (as a coach). He's very technical. He's a quality player as well. It remains to be seen how we get on in his first year, but hopefully we will do well and he will do well.

"Things are looking good, though - we went pretty well in the main friendly against Wakefield.

"He's totally changed things around. He's sorted out a lot of attacking moves. He's got a lot of experience and I think he will help me out - I've not had a natural half-back alongside me for the last couple of seasons, and he's a quality half-back as well. I'm really looking forward to the season."

National League Two is shaping up to be a competitive division, with several clubs having undergone eye-opening recruitment drives. But Rhodes is confident the Knights can be up there with the best.

"Quite a few teams have strengthened," said the Scotland international, who is hoping a good individual season can also lead to a World Cup call-up.

"Doncaster have spent a bit, though we'll have to see how they look during the season, and Oldham have splashed out. The Cum-brian teams will be strong as well. Oldham are probably the favourites at the moment. They've spent a hell of a lot of money, and if they don't go up it might be bad for them.

"But hopefully we can get in there. There's no reason why we can't go out and compete and hopefully beat them."