Castleford Tigers captain's warning over lost momentum

The competition was suspended on March 16, one day after Tigers produced their best performance of the year to crush champions St Helens 28-14 at the Jungle.

That win lifted Castleford into second place in the table, behind Wigan Warriors on points difference and Shenton reckons they were well on course for a successful season before coronavirus struck.

The centre believes they can still compete for honours, but knows it could take time to regain their momentum.

“We were finding our way, finding our groove a bit,” Shenton said.

“A lot of the team has been together for a while, but we had some new players coming in, some important players.

“The Saints game was our best performance for a while, probably a couple of years, against a strong team.

“It was a hell of a performance, but we haven’t had a chance to review it or anything, we’ve just had to brush it under the carpet.

“That has been lost now and it’ll be hard to come back and recapture that kind of form.”

Isolation has been tough for a group who are used to being together virtually every day for 10 months each year.

Shenton added: “We’ve been doing bits and pieces on Zoom chats and WhatsApp and trying to stay connected as best we can, but it’s tough when you are so close and used to that camaraderie every day.”

With rugby on hold, Shenton has been splitting his time between helping home school his three children and training on his own.

“We’ve been given some programs to keep on top of our fitness as best we can,” he said.

“The club has distributed the gym equipment. We’re not blessed with loads of resources at the club so we’ve had to divide it as best we could, but I’ve got pretty much everything I need at home to stay in condition.

“The tough thing is the contact element of it, but I’d like to think we’d get a few weeks [to prepare] if we do get the season up and running at some point.”

Shenton said not knowing when or how the suspension will be lifted is “frustrating”, but insisted players are fully behind efforts to keep clubs and the competition afloat.

“We have agreed for now we will take pay cuts, because we need to,” he said. “The sport needs to survive and clubs need to survive - we have got to do the right thing.

“Lots of people are in the same boat and we’re not the type of people to stand in the way. I am sure work is going on behind the scenes, but the frustrating thing for me - and I am sure other players - is how quiet it is.

“We would like a bit more communication, but we’ve got the GMB [Union] who have been good for us and a lot more people have signed up to that, so we have a voice in the game which we’ve been wanting for a long time.”

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