Castleford Tigers coach Ryan Carr predicts big things from winger Semi Valemei as 80-minute warning issued
Winger Semi Valemei has been tipped to make a major impact in the second half of this season after a frustrating start to his Castleford Tigers career.
The Fijian international has played only three games since joining Tigers last autumn from North Queensland Cowboys. He will return following a three-match ban when Tigers play host to York Knights tomorrow (Friday) – in a game live streamed by Sky Sports+ and SuperLeague+ – and coach Ryan Carr is expecting big things from the 27-year-old powerhouse.
“He will come back in, which is good for him,” Carr said of Valemei, who was suspended just one game into his comeback after a knee problem, having suffered hamstring and concussion setbacks earlier in the year. “He has had a few tough weeks, but he is raring to go.
“He has trained really hard and focused his energy into his training. He has had a hard run, but hopefully he can put a string of games together now. That’s what we are hoping for.”
Valemei scored 14 tries during 17 games for North Queensland in the southern hemisphere NRL and Carr insisted “We know what his strengths are and the points of difference he can bring to the team. Match fitness will improve that and you can only get it by playing a consistent run of games. Week on week I believe he will get better and better.”
Tigers, who beat Toulouse Olympique 36-18 last Saturday, will be expected to complete a league double against York following a 24-18 win there last month. But they trailed at half-time in that game and Carr insisted: “York are a team that competes really hard, no matter what the circumstances are.
“They play hard for the full 80 minutes; every minute of the 80 you have to be on your game because they will be turning up for each other. I’ve no doubt they will be turning up with that attitude this week.”
Though York were crushed 72-20 by Wigan Warriors last Saturday, Tigers conceded a similar number of points at Warrington Wolves earlier in the year and Carr warned: “It is a new week, a new game. What happened last week has nothing to do with what’ll happen on Friday.
“We have to make sure we are on top of our game and that’s all I am really concerned about, our preparation and ensuring we try and get better week on week. That’s something we’ve been talking a lot about.
“We have to remember what type of team we want to be and go hard after that. Our players are as hungry as I’ve ever seen them, which is nice. We are looking forward to being the best version of ourselves tomorrow night.
“We are a team that has been building as the season has gone on, but I don’t think we can stop having that mentality of wanting to be better again the next week - we want to be better every training session and every game.”
Castleford Tigers: from Valemei, Cini, Asi, Weaver, Atoni, Lawler, Lane, Mellor, Stimson, Greacen, Senior, Qareqare, Mapapalangi, Windley, Hall, Robb, Golding, Hirst, Laulu-Togaga’e, Dupree, Brown.
York Knights: from Mata’afa, Wood, Galeano, Hingano, Harris, Martin, McShane, Vaughan, Thompson, Balmforth, Va’a, Hudson, Field, Buchanan, Bennison, Dagger, Williams, Reynolds, Hunter, Nofoaluma, Inman.
Referee: James Vella (Sydney). Kick-off: Friday, 8pm.