Castleford Tigers: Greg Minikin leads team’s bid to make up for mistakes

Minikin was among Tigers’ try scorers when they hit back from 20-4 down to send last week’s derby at Leeds Rhinos into extra-time.

Rhinos snatched victory with a golden-point drop goal, but Minikin reckons if Tigers play like they did after the break for a full game they will beat most teams.

“In the second half we came out and played our game, stuck to our game plan and went pretty well and almost pinched it at the end,” he said of Castleford’s remarkable fightback.

“But the first half was disappointing, we went so far away from the game plan and, personally as well, it just wasn’t good enough at all.”

Keeping Rhinos’ left-centre Konrad Hurrell in check is a difficult proposition for anyone and Minikin feels he has learned a lesson in how to cope with big, powerful opponents.

“I don’t think I made it any easier for myself,” he conceded.

“I made a few bad decisions; personally I need to be massively better and as a whole we need to be better.

“Defensively I have a lot to work on, coming up against blokes like Hurrell.

“I just need to keep working.”

The tough game last week hasn’t knocked Minikin’s determination to establish himself as a specialist centre.

He can also play as a wing, but stressed: “I prefer playing centre. I have always said I want to play centre, I have just got to keep working on it, but I will play wherever he [coach Daryl Powell] wants me to play.”

Tigers have a short turnaround to Friday’s visit of Wigan Warriors and Minikin said: “That’s the beauty of rugby league, you get to go again and right your wrongs the week after.

“We had a poor performance against St Helens and then another poor first half so we will definitely be looking to fix that up against Wigan.

“Although Wigan haven’t been going amazing they are still a tough team to play against. They will come to us firing and we will have to be on top of our game.”