JAMES FORD has declared his delight at the first week of pre-season training at York City Knights - as he prepares to welcome back the remainder of his squad.

Boss Ford and his coaching team have "embedded" the usual fitness tests into the sessions so far and, while he is yet to study any results in full, he is happy with the apparent condition in which his class of 2019 have kicked off preparations for their assault on the Betfred Championship.

The elder statesmen in the squad, such as 34-year-old skipper Tim Spears, will now return to the fold tonight, having been given an extra week off following the gruelling exertions of their stunning League One-winning campaign.

"I'm really pleased with how everybody has come back in, and the first week of training has gone really well," said Ford, who reckons his roster appear to be in an even "better position" than 12 months ago.

"We've embedded testing into our first week, doing a bit of testing each day. We're pleased with how it's been going so far. We haven't finished doing our testing yet. In this day and age you take a more sensible approach to it, rather than coming from nothing to maximum testing, just to make sure the players are prepared for what's coming.

"There are one or two minor bumps and bruises that have carried over from last season but those players are well on with their rehab."

Asked if any players had seemingly overindulged since the end of last season, Ford said: "Definitely not. We've got a very professional mindset at the club and we've moved up another level this year."

And asked if anyone had particularly stood out with their physical well-being, he said: "I've not gone through any results yet - the conditioning team will put a report together - but I've been really happy with what the players have done.

"With the skill stuff and the position-specific stuff we've done, I've been really pleased.

"We're certainly in a better position at the start of this pre-season than at the start of last season.

"The only players who haven't trained all week were slightly older ones who got an extra week off."

On explaining that decision, Ford said: "We just gave one or two an extra week to recover from the full season they've had and from the loads they've had over the year.

"As you get older it can take a little bit longer.

"It also meant we could focus a bit more on the younger and newer players and give them a bit more attention."