WHARFEDALE should know who their forwards' coach and skipper are going to be by next week.

In addition, the National League Two North club are expecting to have announced two new signings by then, and possibly a couple more.

The Greens' chairman of rugby Michael Harrison said: "Hedley Verity will be monitoring things on a Saturday and has rucking as one of his areas of expertise, but we need a forwards' coach whose specialist areas are like Tommy McGee's were – scrummaging and line-outs.

"We will also be able to announce our skipper next week and hopefully, providing they like what they see, a couple of signings.

"We hope to announce two more signings, but it could be that they might need one, two or three training sessions before they put pen to paper, but one of the four is a prop."

One definite piece of news is that Wharfedale are back in the Yorkshire Cup in 2016-17.

Winners in 2010 and 2014, when they defeated Otley in a thrilling final at Bradford & Bingley, the Greens were runners-up to Harrogate in 2015 before taking a year out.

Wharfedale are already seeded through to the last eight, where they will travel to either Hull or Cleckheaton, who the Greens beat at Moorend in a semi-final in 2015.

The last-eight tie must be played on or before February 25, and Harrison said: "We are glad to be back in and have two dates in mind – one for a first XV, depending on how we are doing in the league, and one for the Foresters, but we may play a side that contains 50 per cent of each."

Wharfedale started pre-season training on Tuesday, and Harrison said: "The first session involved a chat and some strength and conditioning work, and I would expect the fitness work to dominate the first few sessions until we concentrate more on ball skills."