York City Knights are pleased to confirm that Chris Clarkson will be taking up the role of team captain.
Clarkson joined the Knights ahead of the curtailed 2020 season, scoring his first try for the club in our last match against Rochdale Hornets in the Challenge Cup. The 30-year-old forward has over 200 Super League appearances to his name from spells with Leeds Rhinos, Widnes Vikings, Hull Kingston Rovers and Castleford Tigers. He also made three appearances for England Knights in 2012 and was part of the Leeds squad which went onto win the Super League Grand Final in 2011, 2012 and 2015.
Clarkson replaces Tim Spears in the role and, on the appointment, Knights head coach James Ford said: “Chris is a very good professional, he selects his words carefully and what he says he genuinely means. He leads by his actions and he’s very similar to Tim Spears in that. They’re effort-based players and what I mean by that is that Clarky will be the first player behind the ball, he’ll top the off-the-ball efforts in terms of support runs and his resets. He’s excellent on kick chase, his defence is really solid and he’s been really well coached.
“I think it helps for a leader to do all those one per cent things. We talk about them a lot and reinforce them but he’s doing them all the time to a high standard and that helps.
“He’s a team-first person, an honest person, and he’s got plenty of drive about him. He carries a lot of respect in the group, similar to Tim Spears.
“Chris has got some big shoes to fill but I wouldn’t have asked Clarky to do it if I didn’t have confidence that he would be able to.”
Paying testament to previous captain Spears, Ford added: “This is nothing to do with Tim’s performance. He has got an immense role at the club and will have a lot of responsibilities in terms of developing other leaders. He’ll probably have a bigger role at the club than he has had previously.
“Tim has been an absolutely fantastic leader for this club and I’m very comfortable saying that he’s been the best captain at the Knights since I came as a player and his impact has been enormous on what we do in training, how we play and on the players’ attitude.”
On taking up the role, Clarkson said: “Obviously it’s a great honour to be leading the team and I’m really excited to do it. I’m not on my own out there as we have some great leaders in the team, I’ve got a lot of help and I’m looking forward to guiding the team in the right direction and leading from the front.
“I can’t wait for this year to get started. We’re obviously playing Hull FC in the first game at the new stadium and we’re really excited for that. Obviously, it’s been a long year out and the lads have kept each other motivated through the last twelve months. We’re now at the back end of pre-season and it (the Hull FC match) will be a great test to see how far we’ve come.”
You can purchase your Live Stream Pass for our friendly against Hull FC on Thursday 11th March, to be shown live on Our League for an Early Bird price of £4.95 or on the day for £10 HERE.
2021 season ticket holders of both teams will receive a complimentary access code to watch the match and our season tickets are available to purchase now by emailing info@yorkcityknights.com or calling 01904 876527.
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