Castleford Tigers rocked by major injury blow ahead of Challenge Cup derby at Leeds Rhinos

Coach Lee Radford, who will name an initial 21-man squad on Thursday, revealed full-back Ryan Hampshire is likely to be sidelined for up to two months.

Hampshire, who played for Tigers six years ago, rejoined the club last week after leaving Wakefield Trinity at the end of 2021.

He played in the reserves last weekend and Radford revealed: “He has broken his hand.

“He is devastated, it’s probably going to be six-eight weeks.

“He sees a specialist [today] and if we can get him back earlier it will be a massive boost.”

Radford said Hampshire would have been in contention for this weekend’s tie, if fit.

Cheyse Blair is also ruled out after suffering a hand injury in last Thursday’s defeat at Wigan Warriors, but Radford said: “Hopefully we’ll have a few back.

“For the first time in a few weeks we will have some decisions to make, which is obviously a plus.

“Niall Evalds, Nathan Massey, Adam Milner and Liam Watts have all got a chance and it’ll be good to get some able bodies back in the squad.”

Evalds has missed three games because of a hamstring issue, Massey suffered a hip injury in Super League round one, last month and Milner (back) has yet to play this season.

“The quicker they hit the ground running, the better for everybody,” Radford said.

“It will be important to get them back.

“Offensively, we have looked tidy these last three or four weeks, but defence has been our real issue.

“To defend how we want to defend in the middle, we need people like Milner, with the leg speed he has got and Massey and Watts as well.

“That’s definitely an area we have got to improve in and I’m sure they’ll help us do that.”

Alex Sutcliffe, who was a member of Rhinos’ 2020 Challenge Cup final-winning side, was rested last week because of a knee injury, but Radford expects him to be available on Saturday.

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