Only three weeks ago the mood down the Lane was one of great optimism for the new season.
Castleford Tigers had a new coach and a lot of new players.
The club did a great job of promoting its opening game of the season and it was rewarded with a full house of more than 10,000 spectators.
Unfortunately, however, Salford hadn’t read the script and they came to the Jungle and stole the two points.
And now, two games later, the Tigers are one of four teams lying at the bottom of Super League with no points from three matches.
That isn’t what the doctor ordered.
On the other hand, the Robins were in the same position prior to this game, but they asserted themselves to get off the mark against a Castleford side that hardly got out of first gear.
And they did that despite two late withdrawals of Dean Hadley and Korbin Sims before the game.
It’s difficult to put our finger on exactly why Castleford were so impotent on the night, but perhaps there is one factor that they should address. That is the ageing profile of the Tigers’ squad.
Of the 17 who turned out for them on Friday night, ten players – Derrell Olpherts, Jordan Turner, Bureta Faraimo, Gareth O’Brien, Nathan Massey, Paul McShane, Cheyse Blair, Joe Westerman, Liam Watts and Suaia Matagi – are aged 30 or over.
In contrast, Hull Kingston Rovers only had four players – Brad Takairangi, Shaun Kenny-Dowall, Ryan Hall and Kane Linnett – who are aged 30 or over.
There was a youthful enthusiasm in Hull KR’s game, exemplified by the performance of 20-year-old Mikey Lewis, that wasn’t to be found in Castleford’s performance, mainly because there are very few youthful players.
The only Tigers players under the age of 25 were Jake Trueman (23) and Cain Robb (19), who had a few minutes off the bench.
For a club that has historically produced some wonderful talent throughout its history, to have so few local young players in their first-team squad right now suggests that something has gone badly wrong with its player pathways in recent years.
Every side needs a fulcrum of experienced players around which to build a successful team, but the Tigers seem to have gone overboard on experience and inadequately on young talent.
Perhaps some criticism can be levelled at their previous coach Daryl Powell for the limited number of opportunities he gave to young players coming through the ranks at the Jungle.
The Robins, on the other hand, appear to have a better balance of age and experience. All four of their over-30s have had NRL experience, for example, and each of those players has a vital role.
Of course the Tigers weren’t helped by two sinbinnings to Bureta Faraimo and Liam Watts for a head tackle and late tackle respectively.
Last week Hull KR coach Tony Smith came out publicly in support of the RFL clamping down on foul tackles and it was noticeable that the Robins only gave one penalty away for anything other than offside or a ball steal until the 78th minute, when Greg Richards was penalised for a high tackle on Faraimo following an earlier high tackle by Brad Takairangi. That sort of discipline is what we will have to see from any club that aspires to be successful. It’s the first lesson that Castleford will need to learn, which Lee Radford will be painfully aware of.
The problem for him is that with an ageing squad, it’s difficult to know the precise moment at which individual players begin to decline. But that process is more likely to affect a team with a higher proportion of older players.
For example, Hull KR captain Shaun Kenny-Dowall was the oldest player on the field on Friday night, at the age of 34, but he doesn’t look to me as though the ageing process is affecting him unduly, as we saw with the opening try, when, taking a pass from Will Dagger, he beat Niall Evalds to score near the corner.
The Hull KR halfbacks outplayed their Castleford counterparts and Sam Wood, who had an agonising game against Wigan two weeks earlier, dropping two Wigan bombs that led to tries to Jake Bibby, this week made no such mistakes and instead scored two well-taken tries. It was hardly surprising that he celebrated his touchdowns and looked delighted with himself.
The Robins’ next game is at home to St Helens on Friday night, which will be a far sterner test, while Castleford will host Radford’s former club Hull FC on Sunday. They badly need to win that game.
The above content is also available in the regular weekly edition of League Express, on newsstands every Monday in the UK and as a digital download. Click here for more details.