CRAIG LINGARD believes the Castleford Tigers will benefit long-term from their partnership with NRL side Manly Sea Eagles.
The two clubs struck up a revolutionary deal that will see the Tigers’ academy team to Australia to test themselves against the best in the southern hemisphere every two years.
The Sea Eagles will accommodate this by making use of their state-of-the-art facilities and securing test matches against local teams.
Alongside this, both clubs will be in regular contact to identify players who may benefit from a loan deal to Castleford, in order to gain experience in the Super League environment and the Castleford Tigers first-team.
Now Lingard has revealed just how Castleford will benefit.
“The Manly deal benefits us in the longer-term by giving us players that aren’t first-grade or aren’t quite ready to play in the NRL for a season or two over here for their development,” Lingard said.
“Hopefully it helps us recruit top youngsters because they know we have got that partnership with Manly and that these youngsters can train with them for a few weeks at the end of the season and potentially even step into the NRL if they are good enough.”
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