Castleford Tigers 'best version' appeal for St Helens showdown in latest fresh start

Coach Ryan Carr has been absent from the club for the past two games and his departure was confirmed today (Friday) for “personal reasons”. It is the third time in four years the coach who started the season hasn’t finished it.

Director of rugby Chris Chester admitted the past fortnight has been a difficult time for everyone associated with the club, but he reckons they can now move forward, beginning with a positive performance at Saints. Chester said: “It has been tough, especially for the fans.

“We set our stall out early in the season about what we wanted to achieve and for one reason or another, we’ve not done that. I take a fair bit of responsibility for that and collectively we’ve not been good enough.

“There’s a lot of things we could and should have done better, but this group of players are pretty close, they stick together and they are pretty resilient. We have just got to get on with it. We have to be as professional as we can and be the best version of ourselves.”

Chester feels preparation for tomorrow’s game – broadcast by Sky Sports and SuperLeague+ and with Tom Grant as referee – have been boosted by the arrival as assistant-coach of former Huddersfield Giants boss Luke Robinson. He’s joined by Jason Netherton who had a spell in charge of Hull KR’s academy.

“Those guys, along with Scott Murrell and Rob Nikolay have been great this week,” Chester added. “I have been able to focus on my day to day job, which is making sure we’ve got the right squad for 2027. I am looking forward to getting back to that.”

Castleford are on the back of a morale-boosting victory at Hull FC last time out and Chester insisted: “We are away from home again, the pressure is off our guys and there’s a lot of pressure on St Helens to do well because they are just outside the top-six and probably need to win three of their next four games. It is probably a game they have earmarked as one they need to win, but we are going there full of confidence.”

Castleford’s four remaining fixtures are all against teams in the bottom half of the table, with a home game against Catalans Dragons next week followed by trips to Bradford Bulls and Huddersfield Giants. Eighth-place is within reach and Chester admitted Tigers would have “snapped your hand off” if that was offered at the start of the campaign.

On-loan Leigh Leopards trio Lazarus Vaalepu, Keanan Brand and Ben McNamara are all set to make their Tigers debut and Brock Greacen returns to the 21-man squad. The players making way are Jack Ashworth, who has joined Leigh, Krystian Mapapalangi, Tylor Sharpe and Daniel Sarbah. Mapapalangi has a shoulder injury, but could return before the end of the season.

Veteran centre Mark Percival is back in contention for Saints and academy forward Oscar Knox has been called into their initial squad. They are without Lewis Murphy after he was injured during last week’s win at Wakefield Trinity. Alfie Tate, who didn’t play in that game, also drops out.

St Helens: from Welsby, Robertson, Percival, Cross, Sailor, Walmsley, Wright, Host, Shorrocks, Macdonald, Douglas, Davies, Humphreys, Hastings, Marsh, Suluka-Fifita, Keeley, Evans, Matagi, Campbell, Knox.

Castleford Tigers: from Ravalawa, Asi, Weaver, Atoni, Hood, Lawler, Lane, Mellor, Stimson, Greacen, Senior, Windley, Hall, Robb, Hirst, Laulu-Togaga’e, Dupree, Brown, Vaalepu, Brand, McNamara.

Referee: Tom Grant (Leeds). Kick-off: Saturday, 3pm.