YORK City Knights may have to wait to find out if John Davies is coming to the club permanently – but in the meantime they are hoping to tie up a deal for a Kiwi bruiser to bolster their pack.

Castleford Tigers forward Davies, who is on dual-registration at Huntington Stadium this season, has been offered terms to keep him in the Minster city until the end of next season.

His current contract at Wheldon Road ends this autumn and the Tigers are set to release him.

However, while he reportedly enjoys it at York, The Press understands he has other suitors in the Championship, Batley among them, and he is set to have talks with those clubs before putting pen to paper.

The Knights are sitting tight over that one as they step up recruitment plans for 2013, but attentions are now turned to a surprise signing from down under.

The club are keeping cards close to their chest but The Press believes the player in question turns out at Queensland Cup level in Australia, one step below the NRL.

Simon Friend, Dave Buckley and Trevor Krause – all former favourites at the Knights – played at a lower level than that so Huntington Stadium staff are excited about seeing him in action.

The player is from New Zealand but has a European passport so would not count on the overseas quota. It is thought the club are looking to sign him until the end of this season with an option to extend the deal until the end of 2013.

If all goes to plan, he could be in England by the end of this month in time to feature in the Championship match at home to Dewsbury Rams on Friday, June 29.

Meanwhile, Featherstone half-back Liam Finn broke the world record for consecutive successful goal-kicks on Thursday – in a run which started against the Knights.

He knocked over ten out of ten as Rovers walloped Keighley 60-12 in the Northern Rail Cup quarter-finals to take his sequence up to 41.

Barry Eaton had set the previous best of 38 while playing for Keighley in 2003. Finn’s record run began with four conversions in the 34-14 Championship win over York on May 19.