Reynolds is regarded by the Knights as one of the club’s best prospects, which has seen Applegarth give the young back-row deserved opportunities within the first-team squad.
Applegarth confirmed that he has been recently impressed with the development of Reynolds, and admitted his keen attitude to keeping him involved whilst work continues behind-the-scenes to build the club’s development programme.
That saw Reynolds involved in Sunday’s 36-10 triumph over Sheffield Eagles, replacing Brenden Santi in the squad to allow the Keighley Cougars prop a chance to rest.
“He’s going to be a cracker in my opinion, will Renno [Reynolds], and a part of my job is to nurture him into the first-team as a regular,” Applegarth explained.
“As I say, I think that there are steps being made behind-the-scenes to get that reserve set-up, but the quicker we can get that team underneath our first-team, we can get players like Harvey that game time and the experience needed.
“Harvey has been training the house down and we felt it was the game to give [Brenden] Santi the week off, and to also bring some youth in and energy.
“He certainly did that, he’s going to be a cracking player, given time, is Renno, and with us not having a reserve team where I can play him week in, week out, it’s about selecting the games where we feel he will be good to get one.
“We felt this game was that, but it also keeps Santi on his toes and ready for Bradford next week.”
Ben Jones-Bishop joined Reynolds in that squad, having now enjoyed a run of games after missing out on the AB Sundecks 1895 Cup action due to being cup-tied.
On his return to his former club Sheffield, Jones-Bishop scored a second-half brace that helped York to their win in South Yorkshire.
Applegarth was full of praise for the winger, saying: “He’s a quality player. I thought he might have gotten another hat-trick if I am honest with you, I could see him sniffing that and I didn’t know if Toa was going to be kind to him at the end.
“We all joke about it, about how he is a Rolls-Royce of a winger, but he really is.
“He’s a player I admire from his Leeds Rhinos days and I was lucky enough to coach him when he was at Wakefield.
“I’m just happy that he is back in York Knights colours at the moment.”
One concern prior to the release of the matchday squad was whether Toa Mata’afa would be involved, after a challenge on Featherstone Rovers’ Connor Wynne caused an injury last weekend.
Mata’afa has since been cited for the attempt of a tackle, but Applegarth admitted to being perplexed by the citation, feeling as if Mata’afa had no malice in the challenge.
Applegarth commented: “I wasn’t expecting to [hear anything else about the citation] after watching it, I don’t know what there is to be cited about.
“You’ve got two players, Connor Wynne trying to score the try and Toa trying to stop it.
“It’s not like he’s gone in with any intent to cause injury, it’s just an unfortunate event where it happens in a game of rugby.
“I wasn’t expecting anything from it, and I would have been a bit miffed if they did cite it and give us any punishment.”
Ata Hingano was a second-half interchange for the Knights, being removed from play when Applegarth felt the scoreline was out of reach for Sheffield.
Applegarth currently has no concerns over Hingano’s return for next Sunday’s fixture against Bradford Bulls at the LNER Community Stadium (3pm), whilst Connor Bailey will also be checked over after rolling his ankle.
“He’s obviously felt his leg, so we’ll get him assessed, but typical Ata was saying that he was good to go back on.
“We just felt that the game had gone by that point, there was no point in risking him.
“Connor Bailey rolled his ankle in that first-half, and we just wanted to give Renno more minutes.”
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