Castleford Tigers boss Lee Radford happy to see St Helens Jack Welsby escape ban

Tigers’ only points in a 24-6 defeat came from a converted penalty try awarded against Welsby for a foul on Jack Broadbent close to Saints’ line.

Welsby, who wasn’t sin-binned or sent-off, received a £250 fine, but no ban, after the incident was studied by the RFL’s match review panel.

That was under new guidelines, introduced after a flurry of suspensions throughout last season, aimed at reducing the number of games missed by players through the disciplinary process.

Radford called for fines rather than bans and insisted he has no complaints over the punishment handed to Welsby, who is in Saints’ squad to play Leeds Rhinos on Friday.

“I am a fan of it,” he said of the change of policy. “I have been an advocate for [fines]. If you look at the game over the last couple of seasons we’ve been into the deep depths of squad numbers towards the back end of the year.

“If keeping blokes on the field [by not issuing suspensions] keeps those numbers a little bit lower, that has got to be good for the game.”

Tigers have lost their opening two Betfred Super League matches and face another tough fixture at home to Wigan Warriors on Friday.

After hitting back from 32-6 down to lose by two points at Hull FC in round one, they were unable to profit from a host of chances against the reigning champions last week.

Radford said: “Two losses from two games is not ideal. What we want to see is as much effort as we can possibly get towards getting two points and getting our season off the ground.

“We are playing a fantastic side so we have to be right at it to get something out of the game.

“There’s no panic; disappointment, definitely, in the losses, but I have seen enough with the ball to know we will challenge plenty of sides this year.

“We need to get in the arm wrestle and stay there and defensively show a bit more steel when things go against us.”

Tigers will be without centre Jake Mamo. Radford said: “He had a back spasm during last week’s game.

“He was actually struggling with his knee earlier in the week; he came through flying with that, but his back took a twist.”

Cain Robb and Jordan Turner also drop out from last week’s 17, but Greg Eden could make his first appearance of the season, following a calf muscle injury. Radford said: “He is back firing now and hopefully good to go,”

Alex Sutcliffe and Dan Smith are in contention and Suaia Matagi - who played on dual-registration for Halifax Panthers in their defeat at Widnes Vikings on Monday - could return, along with Mahe Fonua, Joe Westerman and Nathan Massey.

Fonua had been due to play for Halifax, but was withdrawn by Tigers to cover for Mamo, following his knee problem.