MATT GARSIDE reckons York City Knights can climb away from the drop zone if they continue to stick together – after showing his own commitment to the cause by giving up the chance to tour Australia.

The 20-year-old Garside, along with club-mate Jordan Rice, was named in the Great Britain & Ireland Students squad to fly down under on June 23 for a three-match series against their Aussie counterparts.

However, Garside has now withdrawn from the tour to concentrate on the Knights and their battle to beat relegation from the Championship, which continues this Sunday at home to Super League-bound Widnes, when Garside and Co will have “a point to prove” against a Vikings side which hammered them 76-12 earlier in the season.

The Knights fell to the bottom of the table last weekend after losing at Featherstone, but Garside said: “I can definitely see us getting more wins. I think we’re showing signs of becoming a better team.

“We should have got something on Sunday and it was very disappointing we didn’t. We just need to keep working hard and keep sticking together in training and in matches.”

This Sunday’s Huntington Stadium encounter continues a tough sequence for York, having faced the top three – Leigh, Featherstone and Batley – in the last three outings, taking one bonus point from three defeats.

“In a lot of games we’ve shown we’re capable of beating some of these sides,” said Garside.

“We need to put a performance together for the full 80 minutes. We showed against Leigh and Featherstone we can do it for 40 minutes or so. We now need the full 80.

“We’ve got it all to play for. Last time against Widnes, we got them on one of the best weeks of their lives, when they were awarded the Super League franchise. They were red hot that day and we were very below par.

“But it’s not about Widnes, it’s about us, and we need to show them and a lot of people we’re better than that. We’ve definitely got a point to prove.”

Garside, now home in Huddersfield after finishing his second year of a three-year sports coaching course at Northumbria University in Newcastle, has missed only three of the Knights’ 17 matches this year following his switch from Gateshead Thunder.

“I’ve been doing okay with some okay performances,” said the centre-cum-second-row. “I didn’t expect to play week in week out – I’m quite young still – but I’ve been trying to work hard and stay in the team.”

As for being a young player in a relatively young team, Garside says the Knights should not use that as an excuse for their predicament.

“I don’t want to blame it on age – that’s an easy excuse to say we’re all young. We want to prove we’re good enough and not use that as an easy way out,” he said.

Withdrawing from the students tour means Garside will now be available for the matches against Dewsbury, Batley and Toulouse.

A mixture of reasons led to his decision – the fact he would miss those games, and not being able to make GB training due to his Knights commitments being two of them. There was also the struggle to raise the necessary funds, with each student having to pay £1,500 towards the trip.

To that end, Knights fans organised a fundraising race night at Bar 13 next Friday – an event which will still go ahead, with Rice now the sole beneficiary.

Garside said: “I’d like to thank the fans for that. It’s a great gesture and hopefully lots of people will come down and support Jordan. It’s a great honour to be selected.

“It was a tough decision to pull out but I’d been thinking about it for a while.

“I’ve played against Australia for Great Britain Students before, and Australia will always be there if I want to go another time. Hopefully I can play there at some point in my career.”