Castleford coach Daryl Powell has admitted the club are intending on extending the contract of England forward Mike McMeeken.
McMeeken, one of several high-profile Super League players in talks with the Rugby Football League about becoming centrally-contracted, has a contract which expires at the end of next season as things stand.
And Powell says that the club are definitely keen to tie down McMeeken’s long-term future to Castleford.
“He’s got next season left and it (extending his deal) will be part of what we want to do,” Powell said.
“We want to keep our best players, that much is for certain.
“He’s a good player, Mikey, isn’t he. For us, we want to be extending his contract – that’s important for us moving forward.
“He played for England in the game against Samoa and you’d like to think he’s there or thereabouts in the World Cup frame. He’s been a great player for us this year and hopefully he can continue that.”
Meanwhile, Powell said he was in the dark about the plans from the RFL to offer McMeeken a central contract alongside other big names such as George Williams and Jonny Lomax.
He said: “I don’t know anything about that, that’s down to the RFL.
“How they choose to make those decisions I don’t know because I haven’t heard anything about the criteria so I’ll leave that to them.”
McMeeken is expected to be in contention once again for Castleford’s clash against Hull FC on Friday night.