York City Knights could give a debut to Leeds Rhinos prop Ben Parkinson (pictured left) against Workington Town on Sunday.

Parkinson, 20, has just joined the Knights from the Super League club and coach Dave Woods is keen to see him in action.

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.

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 tonight 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.”

Meanwhile cult hero Dennis Tuffour will not return to York City Knights this weekend – and there is a fear he might not be coming back at all.

The winger, who has bagged nine tries in 11 appearances in Championship One, went back to parent club Hull earlier this month and is now set to try his luck with the Super League side as injuries have put him in the first-team frame.

The Knights have tried to get him back for the all-important run-in, but general manager Wilson said: “There is no further news. We pretty much won’t be getting him this week and at the moment he might get a shot at the first team there so it’s out of our hands.”

Tuffour initially arrived at York on a dual-registration in April though this was changed to a loan deal at the beginning of June to make him eligible for the Northern Rail Cup quarter-final at Keighley.

That arrangement ended after the Knights’ win over Doncaster on July 4 after which he returned to the KC Stadium and, although he has played only for the under-20s since, further injuries mean he has a chance of a first-team call-up.

Lee Dutton could return for Town, but Ryan Campbell (ankle ligaments) is unavailable and Ruairi McGoff has returned to Barrow after completing another month’s loan. Liam Finch is also not making the progress he expected after breaking a bone in his ankle and may not play again this season.

Workington joint coach Gary Charlton said: “It’s a six pointer this week; there’ll be a lot riding on it.

“I’m expecting two very committed teams out there. We’ll try to get a DVD of them since Dave Woods took over, and from that we’ll hopefully be able to come up with a game-plan that will get us the points.”

Town are looking to win at least three of their last five games which should guarantee them a place in the Championship One play-offs.

They host Rochdale a week on Sunday; visit Hunslet on Thursday, August 5 in a Sky televised game; entertain Swinton on August 15 and travel to Doncaster on August 22.

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