Castleford Tigers boss predicts 'bit of feeling' in Wakefield Trinity derby as repeat performance demanded
Coach Ryan Carr has warned Castleford Tigers’ players not to let hearts rule heads in Sunday’s home rivals round clash with Wakefield Trinity.
Tigers are expecting a near full-house, but Carr wants his side to put derby day emotion to one side and focus on repeating their performance from last week’s 40-28 win against Bradford Bulls. “It is going to be a great occasion; we are expecting a massive crowd and it should be a really good atmosphere, which it always is here at home,” Carr predicted.
“Our crowd always gets behind us, which we appreciate. There’s always a bit of feeling in local derbies and I imagine this will be the same. They are all tough games in this competition and how we play and how we perform is something we have got to keep focusing on.”
Carr insisted: “When we play our best we’ve seen what we can do, we’ve just got to make sure we maintain that level of standard and don’t keep dipping in and out of it. Although it is a local derby and it is a big fixture, we are also focused on trying to get some consistency among our performances. Our boys performed at a consistent level last week against Bradford and we want to see the same level of commitment and consistency this week.”
Tigers have had more than a week to prepare and Carr feels that will stand them in good stead as they seek a third win of the campaign. “The long turnaround has enabled us to spend more time together and try to continue to develop as a group,” he added. “I feel we are only going to get better the longer we play together.”
Castleford came out on top the last time the sides met at Wheldon Road, in September, 2025, but Trinity are on a four-game winning run in all competitions and Carr observed: “They are a really good team. They have had a lot of close games and they’ve come out on top in a lot of them so they are a gritty team.
“A lot of their players have been together a while and they’ve got some new faces too from overseas. They have got threat all over the park and we are definitely going to have to be at our best. The boys are really excited, they have been since we started our prep for this game and we are looking forward to getting out there on Sunday.”