Castleford Tigers appoint Danny Wilson and Rob Nickolay to incoming boss Lee Radford's coaching staff

Tigers have also appointed England Community Lions coach Rob Nickolay as education and development manager.

As well as his first team role, Wilson will be heavily involved with the club’s coaching, youth and pathways programmes, working alongside the Castleford Tigers Foundation.

Wilson said: "I’m really excited for the opportunity to come to Castleford Tigers.

"I know what Castleford is all about and I’m really looking forward to joining, sharing my experience and making an impact.

“With Lee Radford coming as head coach and all the other good people that work there, it’s really exciting what the future will hold."

Wilson described Radford as "a fantastic bloke and very loyal".

He added: "He’s an unbelievable coach and you can see that in the success he had at Hull.

"He had a long tenure and not many coaches have that kind of tenure.

"I think that speaks volumes about his commitment to the cause.

“He is very astute at what he does and I have come to work with him because I know what he is capable of.

"The team he is putting together is very exciting and it is very exciting for me to come and be a part of that.

"My experience is more with the academy and youth in the national programmes, so to work with Lee in the first team regularly will be a massive development process for me."

Of his development role, Wilson said: “I can come and engage with the community clubs personally.

"That is something I am really excited to do.

"Darren Higgins [Tigers' head of youth performance] has done a great job with the academy system.

"I really want to be part of that and work really closely with Darren.

"I am really looking forward to making an imprint and our aspirations are to be leading the way.

"Our ambition is to lead the way in terms of our academy at Castleford and make sure people are following what we are doing.”

Nickolay has been on the staff at Hull KR and Hull FC and will also work closely with Higgins to expand Tigers' player and development pathways.

“I’m really excited to get involved with such a great, historic club," he said.

"It’s exciting to see the direction and the way the club is going.

"It’s like we are on the cusp of something and it will be a great journey, I’m sure."

He added: “Ultimately, I will be linking between the foundation and the academy to make sure there is a pathway for our players to come through at all levels, both male and female.

"That pathway is making sure we have got something sustainable and that we can be producing not just talented players, but talented people to work within the club and community and help push the Tigers forward.

Radford believes both men will add something to his backroom staff.

“I’m really pleased," he stated.

"Danny is incredibly articulate, an academic, a man highly respected in the game.

“The work Danny has done at youth level has contributed to a lot of young lads coming through and playing Super League.

"His organisational skills are second to none, which will help me massively.

"As a great coach it will be a terrific challenge for him and one he will be comfortable with I’m certain.”

Of Nikolay, he went on: “Rob is very similar, from an academic background and he has done a great job in building the foundation and the academy at Hull, the City of Hull Academy too,.

“One of the things I wanted to do moving forward was to put a lot of emphasis on our youth and youth development.

"With earlier in the year Cas not being given an elite licence, there is a need to grow there and that will be hugely important.

“We want to produce as many young kids coming through the ranks as we possibly can and both Rob and Danny are going to be highly influential in that.

"The work we are going to be doing with the amateur clubs in and around the area will be assisting a lot of the good work Darren Higgins has done as well.”

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