'So much hinges on it': Castleford Tigers coach Lee Radford outlines key to Super League success

Tigers, who are away to Keighley Cougars on Sunday in a testimonial game for their former star Jake Webster, suffered an horrific run of injuries to their most influential players in 2022.

Full-back Niall Evalds suffered a biceps injury early in the campaign before a season-ending shoulder problem in July.

Ryan Hampshire, who can play at full-back or in the halves, broke a hand just a week after joining Tigers in March and tore an anterior cruciate ligament three months later.

Stand-off Jake Trueman did the same in July, half-back Danny Richardson was a long-term casualty after sustaining a fracture to his neck in round one and knee damage late in the season which required surgery and Gareth O’Brien, who can play in the halves or full-back, also had an injury-hit year.

O’Brien has since signed for Leigh Leopards, Trueman is at Hull and Hampshire’s future is undecided.

But Richardson remains at Tigers, pivots Jacob Miller from Wakefield Trinity and ex-Warrington Wolves man Gareth Widdop have joined the squad and Radford admits keeping them fit, along with Evalds and hooker Paul McShane, is a priority.

“I think we had a decent year last year without being special,” the coach said.

“I think we could have had a bigger impact on the competition if we’d been a little bit healthier.

“Injuries to the spine in particular were damaging to us last year.

“So much this time hinges on keeping the nucleus of our spine on the field.

“That’s no different to any team in the competition, but we really went through them last year in terms of losing Niall and Rocky [Hampshire] and Truey and then Danny Rich.

“It was a test definitely, but fair play to the players who jumped in there out of position and had to adapt, Greg Eden for example.”

Radford said pre-season so far has been a “steady progression” and reckons Tigers will benefit from not having made major changes to their squad since the end of last term.