Up to five Castleford Tigers players are set to miss Saturday’s game at Leigh Leopards after being injured in the 48-6 Magic Weekend drubbing by Wakefield Trinity.

That was Castleford’s second successive defeat following a 20-14 home reverse to York Knights and coach Ryan Carr admitted “everything that could go wrong, did go wrong”. Setbacks included the loss of George Hirst, Brock Greacen and Tyler Dupree to concussion, while Liam Hood failed to finish the game and Darnell McIntosh was also among the walking wounded.

Outlining his side’s injury woes, Carr said: “We got three head knocks, they all failed so they will be out next week. Hoody’s neck, we have got to see - that’s why we had to get him off.

“I wasn’t going to risk him, he was starting to feel a bit of pain in that. We need to get a good read on that so we are potentially going to lose five - Darnell McIntosh played the second half, but his groin had gone.”

Liam Hood is being assessed after returning from a neck injury when Castleford Tigers lost to Wakefield Trinity at Magic Weekend. Picture by Callum Pilkington/SWpix.com.

placeholder image — Liam Hood is being assessed after returning from a neck injury when Castleford Tigers lost to Wakefield Trinity at Magic Weekend. Picture by Callum Pilkington/SWpix.com.

It was Hood’s first game since suffering serious neck damage against Wigan Warriors in April. Carr stressed: “He got cleared by the professionals and felt like he was ready to play. I think it was just he played a lot longer than we wanted him to because of the head knocks. We didn’t plan to play him that long, at all.”

The coach felt “certain individuals gave up” during Sunday’s defeat at Everton FC’s Hill Dickinson Stadium, but insisted: “We’ve got to go again. It’s another week and if we get ourselves right we will give ourselves a chance. If you play poorly and don’t give yourselves a chance early on, it just gets away from you.

“Even then, when adversity’s there you’ve got to fight through it. You don’t know who fighters are and who aren’t until you get put into it. Sometimes you have got to learn the hard way.”

Carr also confirmed Australian centre Zac Cini has been released from the remainder of his contract, which was due to expire this autumn. Cini scored six tries in 34 games for Tigers and made his final appearance at home to Toulouse Olympique last month.

The coach said: “He had to go back to Australia for personal reasons. He has been a great guy and a great player for us. He has got our full support.”