The Story Of 2023…
Grim reading for Tigers fans. Right from the moment that Joe Westerman made himself an unwitting bongo movie star in the vicinity of a branch of Greggs things started to go downhill for the side coached at that time by Lee Radford. Other bakeries are available as the setting for bongo movies.
The Tigers lost the 2023 opener narrowly to Hull FC - going down 32-30 - but after further defeats to St Helens and Wigan Radford was mutually consented out of the Mend-A-Hose Jungle door. Andy Last came in as coach on an interim basis initially before being handed the role permanently in April. By August Last was also out after a dismal 28-0 defeat to a hardly sizzling Huddersfield Giants team. That loss left the Tigers…well…last with a small ‘l’ in the Super League standings and facing the prospect of relegation to the Championship.
In came Danny Ward to try and keep them afloat. He went a long way towards doing that when he guided his new charges to a 28-12 win at Wakefield in his first assignment. Ward would manage only one more win from the remaining five matches - a 29-16 success over Hull FC - but it was enough to secure Super League status for 2024 as Trinity lost all of their last seven league outings.
In October Ward rejected the opportunity to stay on as Tigers Head Coach. Instead former Batley Bulldogs Head Coach Craig Lingard has been appointed on a two-year deal. He will be assisted by Super League’s record try scorer and Leeds Rhinos legend Danny McGuire. He has has moved over from a similar role at Hull KR after what appeared to be a suspiciously fractious working relationship with Robins boss Willie Peters.
The Recruits
Lingard might reflect on how fortunate he is that IMG have all but guaranteed Castleford’s presence in Super League for 2025. By handing newly promoted London Broncos a licensing grading which farcically ensures their return to the Championship regardless of what they do on the field in 2024, the game’s new overlords have seemingly given everyone else a safety guarantee. Like a shield from the armory in The Traitors.
Which is lucky for Castleford in particular. The signings don’t exactly blow you away. A number of them are as yet unknowns from lower tier Australian sides such as Nixon Putt from Central Queensland Capras and Eli El-Zakhem from North Sydney Bears. Prop Sylvester Namo was on the books of North Queensland Cowboys in 2023 but never really threatened the first team. He does have four Papua New Guinea caps while second rower Putt has appeared 14 times for the Kumuls, scoring five tries. El-Zakhem is another back rower who has represented Lebanon at international level but failed to make the breakthrough in the NRL.
British RL fans - and in particular readers of these usually Saints orientated pages - will be more familiar with Josh Simm who heads to West Yorkshire after a spell with Queensland Cup outfit Wynnum Manly Seagulls. He made 23 appearances there and returns to the UK looking to reestablish himself at Super League level after four seasons at Saints which included loan spells at Leigh and Hull FC. Simm scored seven tries in 19 appearances in the red vee and was briefly viewed as a long term replacement for Mark Percival once the centre’s battered body finally gives up on him.
A couple of ex-Rovers have followed McGuire across Yorkshire. Three-quarter Sam Wood played 33 times for KR in 2023 and also has Super League experience during a five-year spell at Huddersfield Giants. At 26 he should be coming into his peak years. Meanwhile the talented if inconsistent Rowan Milnes also makes the switch from what used to be known as plain old Craven Park.
Milnes appeared in Hull KR’s Challenge Cup Final loss to Leigh Leopards in 2023 but at other times was often the odd man out at halfback behind the excellent Jordan Abdull and the exciting England international Mikey Lewis. Abdull has since moved on to Catalans Dragons but the arrival of Tyrone May in the opposite direction would have no doubt kept Milnes on the periphery. At Castleford he will hope to form an understanding with Jacob Miller to make the Tigers more creative in attack. Former Saints man and 2018 Super League Dream Teamer Danny Richardson is still around but a succession of injury problems and an apparent aversion to tackling and being tackled have so far hampered his development.
Cas’ halfbacks will be helped by the pace added to the back line with the additions of Luke Hooley from Leeds Rhinos and Innes Senior from the Giants. Hooley can play fullback which might be handy given the departures of Gareth Widdop (to hometown club Halifax following a brief flirtation with retirement) and Niall Evalds who has joined Hull KR. Prop Sammy Kibula has been among the most talked about prop forwards in Championship rugby league in recent years having already gained experience at Wigan and Warrington. He follows Lingard from Batley looking to make an impact on a front row that otherwise will have to rely heavily on Liam Watts and Albert Vete.
So Who’s Out?
Who isn’t? If you’re a Cas fan reading the list of departures you might initially sense a reason to panic. But then if you take a deep breath, sit and think about it for a second you will remember that none of this lot contributed very much in 2023. This was after all a Tigers squad which managed only six wins from their 27 regular season outings. Don’t let the names fool you into thinking that any of them will be unduly missed.
As well as Evalds and Widdop there is former Saint and 2014 Grand Final winner Jordan Turner, prop Nathan Massey, prolific try scorer but frequent liability Greg Eden, ex-Leeds man Alex Sutcliffe, rarely seen front rower Suaia Matagi and grubby back rower Kenny Edwards. Turner is stepping away from Super League to join Sean Bernard Long’s project at Oldham, while Massey and Eden are heading to Featherstone and Halifax respectively. Sutcliffe and Matagi are also now firmly in the bracket marked not quite good enough for the top flight and will wear the colours of Doncaster in 2024. Edwards is off to Mackay Cutters, a Queensland Cup outfit.
It’s not the quality but the quantity of those exiting that may cause concern. Though there are 10 new faces there are no fewer than 19 players leaving but they include the likes of Blake Austin, Billy Tsikikras, Jordan Johnstone and Alex Mellor, all of whom were on loan with little expectation of a permanent stay.
What’s The Expectation?
The chicanery around the Broncos has taken the pressure off the Tigers but it would still be surprising if their fans were approaching the 2024 season with anything resembling relish. Lingard has his work cut out to lift what looks to be a squad still short on Super League quality out of the doldrums. Since they have taken one or two Rovers players on board perhaps they can take inspiration from the Robins of recent years. In 2020 KR finished 11th and dead last amid the Covid chaos which persuaded Toronto to withdraw, yet by 2021 they were a playoff team having finished sixth under Tony Smith. Cas fans can at least cling to that fairly recent precedent. It can be done.
What Will Really Happen?
It can be done but is it likely? It’s one thing Rovers making the jump from basement dwellers to playoff contenders under a coach who had won Super League Grand Finals and Challenge Cups and coached at international level, it’s quite another to expect it to happen under a coach with no top flight experience.
Lingard has been something of a nearly man at Batley. He was one game away from pipping Leigh to promotion to Super League at the end of 2022, and we all know how 2023 in the big league panned out for the Leopards. Meanwhile last season saw the Bulldogs reach Wembley for the 1895 Cup final where they were edged out 12-10 by Halifax. Yet in the league they finished a disappointing seventh. That came after a fifth placed finish earned them that Grand Final shot at Leigh in 2022 and after they had finished fourth in 2021. If you were being negative you would argue that the trend has been a downward one in terms of league placings.
Yet it is the depth of his squad - or lack of it perhaps - rather than the weight of his own history which will be Lingard’s greatest obstacle. A high turnover of players was arguably necessary given how poor the Tigers were in 2023 but it is very difficult to do that much pack shuffling and have results where you would like them to be straight away. The top eight would be a reasonable aim for the Tigers with perhaps a return to the entertaining style they were known for in their last successful period under Daryl Powell. That should be achievable in the complete absence of the jeopardy which gave the side such jitters last term.
No comments:
Post a Comment