YORK Knights will not risk full-back Will Dagger in Sunday’s Betfred Championship Play-off Semi-Final at Wakefield Trinity (3pm).

Dagger has not featured since August’s 20-12 triumph in Toulouse, in which he scored the club’s Try of the Season with a length-of-the field effort during the second half.

It had been hoped that the 25-year-old would return from a soleus calf injury for the end-of-season series, but boss Mark Applegarth admits that it is not worth rushing him back before his body is ready.

Instead, both Joe Brown, and more recently Nikau Williams, have proved able stand-ins at full-back in his place.

Former Heworth youngster AJ Towse is available, but faces competition from Brown, Brad Ward and last week’s hat-trick hero Tom Lineham for a place on the wing ahead of his upcoming move to Leigh Leopards.

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“AJ is back in contention,” the Knights boss confirmed. “Dagger, I doubt it, if I’m perfectly honest.

“He’s not far off, I just doubt he’ll be ready for this Sunday.

“It’s come too soon for him. I think it’s one of those with Dags, we don’t want to rush him back.

“We’ll know he’s ready when he’s ready.”

Jack Martin is also available after a rib injury that forced him from the field just a quarter of an hour into the Knights’ 16-6 victory against Featherstone a fortnight ago.

“Jack will be back in contention this week,” said Applegarth. “He got a bump on his ribs.

“We have the luxury of having other players that were chomping at the bit and ready to go so Jack missed out, but he’ll be back in contention come Sunday.”

Jack Martin returns to contention after a rib injury, but faces stiff competition at prop.Jack Martin returns to contention after a rib injury, but faces stiff competition at prop. (Image: Craig Hawkhead Photography) A selection headache in his forwards though is something that the Knights boss is relishing.

With both Jesse Dee and Ukuma Ta’ai returning from injury layoffs, Conor Fitzsimmons, Jack Teanby, Bailey Antrobus and Jacob Gannon are among those to have missed out over recent weeks.

“Jack is a solid player, just as is Bailey Antrobus, Jack Teanby and Conor Fitzsimmons, who all missed out the other week,” he explained.

“You’ve then got young Harvey Reynolds coming through. There are a lot of players on that periphery that are very good players in their own right.

“But I’ve said all along that I’d rather have these kinds of headaches than when you rewind two months ago and you’re thinking ‘have we got the players to play that position?’

“That’s the nature of the beast, there’s always going to be a good player that misses out.

“On the other hand, it also creates a bit of accountability and pressure on the players that do have the shirts to perform to keep them.”

As for whether he will make changes to his squad for their trip to Belle Vue, Applegarth stressed that several things must be considered throughout the week.

He added: “I think that you try and keep as settled as you can, but at the same time you’ve got training to judge on, your gut feeling and what you think is going to work for that particular week.

“In modern sport, if you do have that fully fit squad, you’ve got that luxury of looking at what the opposition strengths are and working out what’s going to be the best balance of your team.

“If everyone gets through training alright, there’s a few selection headaches, but that’s also part of the fun isn’t it.”