Jordan Turner’s eyeing the play-offs despite Castleford Tigers’ poor start

Last week’s 26-10 defeat at Hull KR was Tigers’ third in as many Betfred Super League games this season and Turner admitted: “It was another disappointing result and we’ve got a lot to work on.”

But memories of 2021 - when Castleford made an outstanding start but faded in the second half of the year to finish seventh, one place outside the play-offs - are fresh in the utility player’s mind.

And he reckons that proved what happens in the opening few weeks of the campaign doesn’t necessarily determine the final outcome.

Turner, who will face one of his former clubs, Hull FC, this weekend, stressed Tigers are confident they can still do “good things” this year.

“It’s not great, obviously,” he said of their run of three successive defeats.

“But to put things into perspective, last year we won our opening three games and didn’t make the play-offs.

“There’s still a lot to play for. I don’t think it’s as bad as people make out but we need to buck our ideas up and do something pretty sharpish.

“This week has, all of a sudden, turned into a massive game for us and a must-win because we need to kick our season off. I’m sure, as soon as we get that first win, we will go on to do good things this year.”

Turner insisted Tigers are “working hard” but need to be smarter in all areas in Sunday’s home game.

“We are expending our energy in all the wrong parts of the game,” he said.

“We’re not good enough with the ball at the minute and it’s hurting us defensively because, by the time we get the ball back, we are chasing our tail and we’ve expended all our energy in not posting points and not putting the ball in the right situations.

“We need to get the cycle right of being good with the ball and then it’ll help us out defensively.”

Tigers have a new coach and a much-changed squad since the end of last season and Turner said that is “not an excuse, but probably a reason why” they have yet to find their feet.

He added: “There’s a lot of new faces and a big changeover at the club. It’s something we are working hard to get right.

“I think our senior players have a big role now to implement some foundations and make sure this season gets going, starting this week. We have got new people and new faces; it’s not an excuse but we need to build some foundations pretty quickly.”

Last week’s match was “bitter sweet” for Turner, who scored his 100th Super League try but finished on the losing side. He said: “I am really proud of that achievement and it’s something I’ll cherish when I finish but it’s something that doesn’t really mean a lot to me at the minute because of the loss and the way this season has started. I am sure it’s something I’ll look back on once my time’s up and I’ll be extremely proud of it.”

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