HE had been ill all week and was looking extremely worse for wear, but Tom Amone continued to put his hand up for Castleford Tigers in a brutal couple of stints against Wigan Warriors on Saturday night.

The Tigers went down 26-20 in heartbreaking fashion, with Liam Farrell dotting down with a minute to go, but the Castleford players – who have often been criticised in 2025 – deserved more for their efforts.

Amone, who was visibly shattered at the end of both of his powerful stints, refused to pull out ahead of the Wigan fixture – and he was impressive to say the least.

Now head coach Danny McGuire explained why Innes Senior and Rowan Milnes didn’t play, whilst also hailing Amone’s efforts.

“Innes hurt his ankle in training. Tom Amone was really poorly and put his hand up and didn’t want to let the boys down,” McGuire said.

“Rowan was my toughest decision. I’ve got a really good relationship with him but I felt we needed to change things up there. It was tactical.”

McGuire also reflected on some of the injury issues suffered by the Tigers during the game.

“Alex Mellor got a decent bang on his knee. He strapped it and got on with it. That’s what your senior players do.

“Zac Cini strapped his ankle and kept going. He’s been really good for us. I’m going to sing his praises, he’s in a position that he hasn’t played much in recent times but he is trying his best.”