Castleford Tigers hoping cotton wool approach pays off long term

​Castleford Tigers boss Liam Radford believes keeping players healthy will be the key to a successful season for the team in 2023.
Tony Harber
By Tony Harber
Published 24th Jan 2023, 10:00 BST
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A seemingly never ending injury list hampered the Tigers last year and they were handicapped from the start with several players not able to complete full pre-seasons, leaving them playing catch-up for the rest of the year.

Cas have already lost two of their first team squad for what looks like being large parts of 2023 with half-back Danny Richardson and young forward Kieran Hudson long term casualties and Radford has admitted he will be wrapping several players in “cotton wool” to make sure they go into the Betfred Super League campaign fully fit.

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He said: “I think we could have had a bigger impact on the competition (last year) if we’d been a little bit healthier.

Paul McShane is one of the players head coach Lee Radford is protecting before the Super League season starts as he looks to avoid the kind of key injuries that hampered Castleford Tigers' progress in 2022.Paul McShane is one of the players head coach Lee Radford is protecting before the Super League season starts as he looks to avoid the kind of key injuries that hampered Castleford Tigers' progress in 2022.
Paul McShane is one of the players head coach Lee Radford is protecting before the Super League season starts as he looks to avoid the kind of key injuries that hampered Castleford Tigers' progress in 2022.

“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 (Evalds) and Rocky (Hampshire) and Truey (Jake Trueman) then Danny Rich.

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“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.”

Castleford Tigers confirm squad numbers for 2023 Betfred Super League season

Radford is happy with a “steady progression” in pre-season so far and reckons the Tigers will benefit from not having made too many major changes to their squad since the end of last term.

He was disappointed not to get a look at a number of players, including Liam Watts, George Griffin, Adam Milner, Jordan Turner, Kenny Edwards, George Lawler, Alex Mellor and Jake Mamo, when the Jake Webster testimonial match at Keighley was called off because of the icy weather.

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But all are likely now to feature in the next pre-season game at Whitehaven this Sunday, along with new signing Albert Vete who looks set for his first Tigers appearance following his move from Hull KR.

All the rest of the fit and available first teamers will be on duty for the final warm-up at home to Huddersfield Giants on Sunday, February 5.

Related topics:Castleford TigersAlbert VeteSuper League