Castleford Tigers players meet up with new head of performance as pre-season training begins
The road to Super League 2027 has started this week with most of Castleford Tigers players back for pre-season training.
The players were put through their paces on Monday as fitness testing began on day one of preparations for next season when the pressure is on for Castleford to significantly improve under new head coach Paul Rowley.
New boys from down under Damien Cook, Tyrell Sloan, Mat Feagai will meet up with their new teammates later this month and several other first team members are not back yet, including Semi Valemei who has been playing in the World Cup and did well when scoring a hat-trick for Fiji against Australia.
Cas, meanwhile, are close to adding another player to their squad from Australia with Canterbury Bulldogs forward Jack Todd on their radar.
They have identified 24-year-old Todd as a developing talent who can add some strike power to their pack, but any deal cannot be confirmed until two of the Tigers’ other overseas players have been moved on as the club already has one more than the 10 quota players allowed under the current rules.
One player definitely back for the start of pre-season, meanwhile, is hooker Liam Hood after he signed a one-year contract extension with the club.
And the Tigers players will meet up with a key new addition to their backroom staff with Gareth Whittaker set to lead the performance and strength and conditioning department after joining them from Huddersfield Giants. T
He will team up again with head coach Paul Rowley after the pair worked together at Salford.
Whittaker previously worked in strength and conditioning at Warrington Wolves, England academy, Featherstone Rovers and the Welsh Rugby Union before joining the Giants a year ago.
Of his move to Cas, he said: “They talked to me about the vision and what they want to build up here. It fits with my philosophies of what I want to do and there's a lot of exciting things going on both on and off the field, training facility-wise and stuff like that.
“I worked really closely with Rowls during the four seasons we spent at Salford. I know exactly what his expectations are, how he wants his days to run, how he wants his conditioning to run. It made the decision really easy knowing I know the systems he wants to put in place.
"I think one of the biggest reasons when the club approached me was the joined up thinking and philosophy we share and that I knew and had an existing relationship with the new coaches."
Although the Tigers finished second from bottom on 2026, Whittaker explained: “I’m not here to throw everything out and start again because there’s some really good stuff I’ve been unearthing while speaking to the physio staff and coaching team that’s already in place.
“I don’t want to change everything; I just want sit back, have a look at how it operates and how it works and slowly start to put my input into it. I’m just here to try and improve what has already been put in place and build on that really.
"I think day one is just going to be about getting around the lads and meeting everyone. I think I've worked with only two of the current players previously so I don't know much about them in terms of as people and as players.
"Obviously, I've played against them with other teams so I think day one is going to be about introducing myself, going over the structure and how I see pre-season going, and find out how I can help."
When asked about what he will bring to the role he has been given at Castleford, Whittaker added: “One thing I do pride myself on is being very organised. I think that being head of performance, I'm often spinning a lot of plates.
"So I pride myself on bringing that organisation and just being the glue that brings everything together, from the physio and medical side of things to the coaching and performance side, and just try and make it a one fit multi disciplinary team.
"I pride myself on being first in and last out, I think Rugby League needs that as it's not a sport that is blessed with an embarrassment of riches.
"You have to put the hard yards in, especially in the S&C department as you're looking after anywhere between 35 and 40 individuals who all have individual needs.
"So work ethic, organisation and energy – that's what I want to try and bring to the party, shall we say.
"I'm excited and ready to get started."