YORK City Knights boss James Ford has confirmed he is hoping to keep Jordan Baldwinson at Bootham Crescent - either on an extended loan or via a permanent move.

The 24-year-old Wakefield Trinity prop's initial one-month loan with York ends after Sunday's home Championship game against Batley Bulldogs.

Ford has recently seen Joe Batchelor and Nick Rawsthorne, who could have proven to be key men this season, both go back to parent clubs after being recalled, but he is hopeful the same won't happen with Baldwinson.

The strapping six-footer has played four times so far for Ford's men, having made his debut in the Challenge Cup tie at Widnes on April 13. The fact Wakefield allowed him to be cup-tied suggests they could be open to letting him leave.

Asked what will happen when the month is up, Ford said: "Discussions are ongoing. I would like Jordan to stay and I think he's pretty keen to stay also.

"I think Jordan just wanted to play and be in an environment where he's appreciated and can kick on and improve, and I think that's the case for him at York.

"We've seen some promise around him but we know we've not seen everything he's got to offer - there are other levels in him."

Asked if Baldwinson was likely to extend his loan or potentially make the move permanent, Ford said: "It's for the two clubs to agree a fair deal for all sides. I would be happy either way. It's for Jordan and Michael (Carr, Wakefield chairman) to look at."

Fellow loanees Lewis Heckford and Conor McGrath, who made two appearances apiece for York, have now gone back to parent clubs Dewsbury and Halifax respectively.

Meanwhile, Ford intimated Cain Southernwood - who was thrown in for his debut against Toulouse on Saturday following his loan switch from Hunslet - was likely to keep his place in the line-up for Sunday's visit of his former club.

Southernwood - who played more than 60 times for Batley between 2015 and 2017 - was substituted after about an hour against the French high-fliers, having had just one training session with his new team beforehand.

Ford said the 26-year-old was "definitely" in contention for a place this weekend, partnering in-form scrum-half Connor Robinson in the pivots in place of the sidelined Ben Cockayne.

"There were lots of positives around his performance," said the head coach, who has previously tried Heckford and hookers Will Jubb and Kriss Brining in the void created by Cockayne's knee injury.

"I like how he ran the ball, he selected good options and he picked numbers and spaces pretty effectively.

"He didn't kick the ball as I would want him to kick it but we will work on it. It's something we put a lot of time into practising - how we want to kick the ball out of yardage.

"But there were certainly positives around his efforts."

Asked about withdrawing him for the last half-hour, Ford explained: "He's not played for a while for a start, and I wanted to get Matty Marsh (who switched from full-back to stand-off) a little bit more involved.

"We certainly weren't unhappy with what he did, certainly for a man who's not played for a while and not played Championship level for a fair while. He handled the step up quite positively."