YORK City Knights have eased their worries in the pack by signing Ben Parkinson from Leeds Rhinos.

The former Keighley Cougars and West Craven Warriors junior turns 21 in October so would be ineligible for the Rhinos’ under-20s grade next season, and the Super League club have released him early to allow him the chance of first-team football – and to help out the injury-hit Knights.

York have already lost prop Jon Fallon for the season and are likely to see Brett Waller go the same way, both due to knee injuries, while the recent recruit from York Acorn ARLC, Davey Burns, is sidelined due to a nasal problem.

And, as reported by The Press, with Alex Benson now banned for two matches, they were left with only Nathan Freer and Jack Stearman as recognised front-rowers ahead of Sunday’s Championship One visit of Workington.

Parkinson will now play for the reserves against Dewsbury tomorrow with a view to stepping into the first team at the weekend.

Knights general manager Ian Wilson said: “They’ve allowed him to come out early from his contract.

“They’d already spoken to him about next year, saying they were probably not going to keep him, as maybe they didn’t see him as first team at the moment.

“But they’ll see how he performs in the first-team environment here and go from there, and, with the injuries we’ve got in the front row, it’s good for us to get another body in. Chris Clough (second-row) has played front-row before so we’re not totally desperate but we needed some cover.”

Parkinson joined the Rhinos set-up in 2007 and in his first season helped the junior academy reach their grand final, where they beat St Helens.

Wilson added: “We’ve spoken to Barrie McDermott (head of youth development at Leeds) and he feels he could do us a good job so we will trust that judgement and see how things go.”

The Knights have been scouting around for more signings ahead of the Championship One transfer deadline at the end of this month, and are still keeping tabs on St Helens youngster Gareth Frodsham with the hope he could become available. The deadline in the Championship is the end of this week.

Wilson added: “A lot of clubs are struggling with injuries and there aren’t a great deal of players available.”