Super League frontrunners and league leaders in waiting Castleford Tigers are the best sporting team in Britain this year – that’s the view of the competition’s boss, Roger Draper.
The Tigers are within three wins of a first-ever League Leaders’ Shield following a regular-season which saw them win 20 of their 23 games. Their only defeats were away losses at Salford, St Helens – who they face on Thursday night – and Hull FC.
And Draper heaped praise on Daryl Powell’s side when speaking to TotalRL: insisting Castleford are the country’s standout sporting team without question.
“You’ve got so many storylines this year but I truly believe that Castleford have been the best team in British sport this year,” he said.
“With the way they’ve played and the style of play they possess, I believe that’s the case. With a couple more victories under their belt they will win the League Leaders’ Shield and be preparing for the semi-finals: but after that, who knows.”
Ahead of the Super 8s getting underway tonight with Castleford playing the Saints, Draper also said he thinks this has been the best edition of Super League in the competition’s 20-year history.
“I think it’s been the best Super League season so far,” he said.
“You’ve got the likes of Salford and Wakefield mixing it up, the bigger guns of Wigan and St Helens in sixth and seventh and not far off the pace and more.
“You can look at every round and say it’s exciting and there’s something going on. You genuinely can’t predict – outside of Castleford – who the other three sides are going to be in the play-offs come the end of the season.”
