Castleford Tigers confirm signing of Ilikaya Mafi to add another promising Hull youngster to squad

The 19-year-old loose forward has followed in the footsteps of fellow promising youngsters Jacob Hookem and Bailey Dawson who have made similar off-season moves and has been training with the first team pack from day one of pre-season.

He is liking his new surroundings and cited some familiar faces as a big reason for wanting to join as he will be working again with the likes of coaches Rob Nickolay and Danny Wilson.

He also paid tribute to former Cas captain Michael Shenton for aiding his development last season.“It was good at Hull working with Rob Nickolay and Danny Wilson who came to Cas as well,” said Mafi.

"Michael Shenton helped me a lot as well with developing my game in both offense and defence.

"I’m excited to be getting around a professional environment and learning from all of the players here.

“I’m powerful with good footwork at the line and I can move the ball about.

"In defence I can stay connected and I am a good hitter as well. I’m very excited and I’m looking forward to getting started.”

Mafi started out in rugby union, but changed codes and found his love for league during his younger years living down south in Essex.

He was then picked up by Hull FC after moving to the north of England where he progressed through their youth ranks, representing the Airlie Birds at the Academy and Reserves level in 2022.He told castlefordtigers.com: “I was playing rugby union from the age of 11 and then when I moved to Hull, I joined West Hull rugby league and since then I’ve been hooked. I then came through from Scholarship to Academy at FC.“I was playing union in Oxford for a local team and then I played league on and off in Essex after moving there, but when I moved to Hull that was when I committed to playing league.”

Paul McShane motivated to kick on again with Castleford Tigers

As well as playing and trying to push for a start in the first team, Ilikaya has also taken up the option of the Tigers Foundation’s partnership with University Centre Leeds, which offers aspiring players the opportunity to study alongside their playing career.

Tigers head coach Lee Radford expressed his delight at being able to bring another exciting prospect through the door at the Mend-A-Hose Jungle and put forward that recent incomings will help achieve his aim of having a good number of eager young players in his squad for 2023.

He added: “He’s a big athletic lad and he’ll benefit from being with us full-time.

"I made some comments earlier in the year that we need to make the squad’s average age a little bit younger, so Ilikaya and the other lads coming on board will allow us to do that.”