AS most Super League clubs gear up for the 2023 season with recruitment done and dusted, other sides still have work to do.
In terms of retention, Super League sides will be doing their utmost to retain their biggest stars before May 1 when players are free to negotiate with other clubs to look for a potential move.
For Castleford Tigers, there are 14 stars out of contract at the end of 2023, though three of those do have options to extend those deals for another year.
Here are those 14: Greg Eden (option of another year), Niall Evalds (option of another year), Bureta Faraimo, Mahe Fonua, George Lawler, Nathan Massey, Suaia Matagi, Callum McLelland, Adam Milner, Muizz Mustapha, Daniel Smith, Alex Sutcliffe (option of a further two years), Jordan Turner, Liam Watts.
It will be interesting to see what head coach Lee Radford will do for 2024 and beyond with all 14 of those likely to play a major part in the Tigers’ 2023 Super League season.
Eden enjoyed another stellar year in the top flight in 2022 with some superb tries, whilst Evalds, McLelland and Turner spent the vast majority or all of the season out injured.
Faraimo, Lawler and Fonua were mainstays in the Castleford squad in their first seasons in the black and amber whilst Massey and Milner have been stalwarts at the Jungle for over a decade.
Matagi will be hoping for a big impact in 2023 like the one in 2021 when the prop joined from the Huddersfield Giants on loan with Daniel Smith likely to continue plying his trade for the Jungle outfit.
Meanwhile, Watts incurred a number of bans last season and will be hoping to impress Radford to finish his career off with his hometown club.
Of course, new signing Mustapha has yet to take to the field for the Tigers, but he will be determined to make a big impact after joining from Leeds Rhinos.
