Castleford Tigers and Leeds Rhinos fighting 'war of attrition' says Lee Radford

Tigers go into Friday’s visit of Catalans Dragons fifth in the table, just one point ahead of sixth-place Leeds Rhinos, who they visit in the final Saturday of the regular season.

Salford Red Devils, Hull and Hull KR are a further one point behind.

Speaking at his weekly press conference on Thursday, Radford revealed he was struggling to name a team after an injury-hit final training session.

But Catalans coach Steve McNamara is selecting from only 20 players and Radford admitted: “This cluster of clubs that are all vying for fifth and sixth spot are in a very similar position in terms of troops and the amount of training that's actually being done.

“It's very much going to come down to a war of attrition.

“I think it'll go down to the last round.”

The Tigers boss stressed: “We are one of many teams - Leeds only being able to name 18 players is probably a sign of the times.

“Hull KR could only name 20 last week, I believe, so a lot of teams are in the same scenario.”

Successive defeats have left Tigers fighting to stay in the top-six, rather than competing for Dragons’ fourth place, but Radford insisted there were positive signs in last Sunday’s 20-12 loss at St Helens.

Cas fought back with three tries in the final quarter after going 20-0 behind and he noted: “They have a go, no matter what.

“We have a couple of obstacles thrown at us every week, but we finished the stronger side last Sunday and kicking apart, it might have been a different outcome.

"As long as we continue to turn up with that mentality and attitude, we stand a chance against a lot of the teams in this competition.”

Tigers are without Liam Watts who has been suspended for the fifth time this season.

Cheyse Blair also drops out from last week’s team.

George Lawler, Adam Milner, Daniel Smith, Sam Hall, Cain Robb and Jason Qareqare are all in contention after not playing at Saints, but Radford revealed his plans were thrown into chaos at Tigers’ final training session, Thursday’s captain’s run.

Speaking straight afterwards, he said: “We've had some curveballs thrown at us in the last 10 minutes.

"It has been eventful, involving four players in different incidents.

"It's a very tough team to pick - anything could happen.

“I've named the team three times today and I'll name it once more tomorrow.”

But the coach stressed: “These aren't excuses.

“We'll have 17 blokes out there ready to aim up, whatever position they play in and whatever knocks they're carrying.”

Castleford Tigers: from Olpherts, Faraimo, Richardson, McShane, Lawler, Edwards, Milner, Westerman, Griffin, Fonua, Sutcliffe, Smith, Eden, Matagi, Martin, Hall, Feki, O’Brien, Robb, Qareqare, Mellor.

Catalans Dragons: from Mourgue, Davies, Langi, Whare, Pearce, Drinkwater, McIlorum, Da Costa, Jullien, Seguier, Laguerre, May, Le Cam, Napa, Cozza, Rouge, Franco, J Chan, Kasiano, Tomkins.

Referee: Tom Grant (Leeds).

Kick-off: Friday, 8pm.