Clarkson and Hingano among those who could return for Knights

"Three to five" players could make their returns to York's squad against Barrow, including injured pair Ata Hingano and Chris Clarkson.

READ MORE: Heworth boss delighted as quartet of ex-players start for Knights 

Since taking over the top job from James Ford in October, Henderson has faced an injury crisis that has seen key players including prop Pauli Pauli and captain Clarkson sidelined for the whole of his time at the club.

Further injuries to James Cunningham and Matty Marsh in the first two Rounds of the season have left the Australian down to the bare bones of his squad.

But while he was pleased with the efforts of his young side, which included five York-raised players under the age of 20, in their 36-0 loss at Toulouse Olympique on Saturday evening, Henderson is excited to have up to five more players available for selection this weekend.

Both James Glover and Jordan Thompson, who is set to make his 300th senior appearance in rugby leage, will return to the fold, as will hooker Josh Daley following his suspension for a Grade C dangerous throw in the Knights' 12-19 loss to Widnes Vikings on the opening weekend.

Hingano, who picked up an injury in the Knights' final pre-season friendly, a 48-12 victory against Batley Bulldogs, could return to continue his fledgling partnership with Liam Harris in the halves, while Clarkson may feature after being included among the interchanges last weekend.

"Obviously we have James Glover, Jordan Thompson and Josh Daley back," revealed Henderson.

"Jordy and James missed the fixture at the weekend due to some personal reasons, which is out of our control but which we’re fully supportive of as a club.

"Josh Daley was suspended, so all three of those players will come back, which is a huge boost.

“There’s a really really good chance that we’ll have Ata Hingano back and potentially Chris Clarkson as well, so I think that we’re going to have anything from three to five players back this weekend.

“Which as I said is a huge huge boost for the team, certainly after having to contend with an intense game against Bradford on the Monday, and then having to back it up by those guys playing big minutes on Monday and then playing big minutes again on Saturday at Toulouse with all the logistics surrounding that as well.

“It’s certainly a timely boost for us to get anywhere from three to five back for us this weekend."

One face from Saturday who will not be available however is prop forward Ronan Michael, who failed his head injury assessment in Toulouse after his tackle on Sitaleki Akauola at the end of the first half.

"He went and saw the specialist on Monday, got the all clear and everything’s great there," Henderson added.

"So he’s on the standard 12-day ‘return to play’, so obviously he’s unavailable for selection this week.

“We’ll hopefully have him back into the fold for the week after, bearing in mind that he doesn’t experience any more symptoms while he’s on this ‘return to play’ protocol that everyone has to adhere to.

"If he gets a set back on that – what happens with that is, if you show symptoms at any stage of that, you regress back to the start of it.

“The great thing is that the tests and that that the specialists did on him on Wednesday have come back all clear so there’s no extended ‘return to play’ that some players, based on that testing from the specialists, may have an extended period.

“But obviously he’s on the standard 12-day ‘return to play’ programme at the moment."

Former Heworth youngsters Ben Barnard and AJ Towse also picked up knocks in France, as did the experienced Danny Kirmond, but all remain in the fold.

"I’ve had the all clear at the moment [on players who picked up knocks in Toulouse].

"We should have everybody available that played on Saturday against Toulouse, plus the three to five. Definitely three will be available, and definitely up to five available to be back into the fold this week.

“For once, I might have a bit of a selection headache!"