CASTLEFORD TIGERS have perhaps been one of the most disappointing sides in Super League in 2023.
The West Yorkshire club has won just two games all season, with new head coach Andy Last winning both of those against the Leeds Rhinos and Wakefield Trinity in Super League.
Of course, there was upheaval at the beginning of the year with Lee Radford departing The Jungle after just three games, but Last is determined to turn things around.
And he has cited just how he is going to do that.
“I’ve been going in there with a positive mindset and leading well, coming in with good energy and enthusiasm. We need to make sure we are full of enthusiasm and leading the way as coaches,” Last said.
“My vocabulary has been to improve this area and show examples of when we have done things well and not so well, drawing on performances from both this and last year.
“You’ve got to lead and thats what I’ve been doing and what I’ve been asking the staff to do. You can’t be too despondent and down, not many games of rugby league are won with players having frowns on their faces.
“Good teams enjoy coming to work and showing that enthusiasm which we need and thats what we’ve been preaching to them during the week.”
As well as that, Last has a message for Castleford fans who may feel disgruntled with some performances that the Tigers have dished up this year – not least the first-half showing against the Catalans Dragons last weekend
“I don’t think we competed hard enough against Catalans. From the first minute until the 40th, there was quite clearly running and tackling harder than what we were prepared to do. That’s a real area of improvement for us.
“We’re disappointed, nobody more disappointed than the playing group. We are not happy with sitting second bottom but there is a long part of the season still to go. We are coming up to the halfway point, its not how you start it is how you finish.
“We are looking to find a more positive end to the season than how we’ve started. We have had some challenges, a change of coach and not being able to get our spine on the field but we need to make sure the second half of the season is better than the first.”
