Castleford Tigers boss Danny McGuire admits 'there's loads of hard work to do'

The Tigers were made to pay for a flat first half performance when they went down 18-16 in their first competitive match of the 2025 season – hardly a confidence booster for their tough start to the new Super League season.

Cas now head for their first league game of the campaign tomorrow night against a Hull KR side that went all the way to the Grand Final last year and looked impressive in their 44-2 win in their game against Championship opposition in York in the cup.

Head coach McGuire will know plenty about the opposition, however, having been assistant coach at KR, and his team will go from the hunted in the Challenge Cup tie to the hunter as the Tigers will start as big underdogs at Craven Park.

And while he was hugely disappointed by his team’s cup display he could be a little encouraged by the way his team responded to his half-time team talk at Bradford to look a much improved team that came close to pulling off a strong comeback from 17-0 down.

McGuire admitted he had some choice words for his players at Odsal.

He said: "We did some good things in the second half. I don't know if it was my effing and jeffing, but it shouldn't need that.

"You shouldn't need a coach to go in and scream at his players about what they need to do.

“I'm really disappointed with what we did for most of the first half.

“I’ve lots of overriding different emotions but frustration is the main one.

"The promising thing was that we showed a bit of character in the second half. We did things we spoke about, we defended tougher, we worked a bit harder and competed more.”

McGuire explained: “We get a little bit flustered, we lack a bit of composure when the pressure’s on and we need to tidy that up.

"We’ve got some players that can play with the ball, but you’ve got to do the tough stuff and our balance is not quite correct at the minute.

"There’s loads of work to do. We’ve changed some things and everybody’s still working and trying to understand some of the things we’ve changed and that’s not going to happen overnight.

"We knew it was going to take a little bit of time.”

McGuire revealed that half-back Rowan Milnes is still a few weeks from being fit while back rower Alex Mellor will also miss the start of Super League with a hamstring injury as will winger Jason Qareqare.

Although the new campaign is only hours away Cas are still looking to strengthen their squad in the forwards department, having been linked with a move for Salford’s Jack Ormondroyd and Hull FC’s Nick Staveley. It is also believed they tried to sign Caius Faatili, who has joined Wakefield Trinity.

McGuire would like some additions, but is accepting the position he is in.

He added: “I’m not putting any pressure on (to make signings).

"Do we want some players to come in? Probably. But I’m a coach and I’m coaching the players I’ve got now and I want them to get excel, get better and grow. Until somebody comes in that’s all I’ll keep doing.”