FOUR York Knights players have departed the club to join dual registration partners Newcastle Thunder.

Alex Donaghy has returned to Newcastle on a season-long loan after initially signing for York from the Thunder in the Summer, returning to the side where he progressed through every rank of the club's academy. 

Prop Harry Price, half-back Jack Potter and outside back Francis Coggle have all also exited the Knights, signing permanent deals with Newcastle.

Price initially joined the Knights in January 2023 from Hull KR, having been a product of the York Acorn academy and signing a one-year extension with the club last October.

The prop made his Knights debut against Toulouse Olympique in February 2023, and was known to be a supporter of York.

Potter and Coggle have both also exited York, signing permanent deals with a struggling Newcastle side. 

The duo joined the Knights in November from Hull KR and Castleford Tigers respectively, but have found game time limited with Head Coach Andrew Henderson boasting a larger squad for the 2024 season.

Chairman Clint Goodchild said: "We will be keeping a close eye on all players representing Newcastle in Betfred League One this season.

"We believe these players have great development potential and we are excited to see that realised as a part of our dual registration partnership."

The Knights announced their dual registration partnership with Newcastle on Tuesday morning, with Andrew Henderson stating that it was 'a win all round' for both sides, with the idea being that York's players could develop at Betfred League One level.

Henderson told the Press: “It’s a win all round for everybody!

“We’ve got a deeper squad than last season so we have a number of players there that won’t be playing, so we felt that it was really important as we don’t have a reserve grade side.

“We felt it was really important that we try and find a club that was willing to partner with us, in order to be able to facilitate more opportunities for our players to play games.

“Especially our younger players, for me it is about our younger players getting game time, because if you look at the last few years they have had a couple of years with the covid years when they didn’t play any rugby league and they have missed that development window."