IF ever there was a club that needed a rebuild for 2024 then it was Castleford Tigers.
Under new head coach Craig Lingard, there is plenty of vibrancy and enthusiasm ahead of what is hoped to be a fresh start for a club that narrowly escaped relegation in 2023.
Three head coaches tried their hand at taking the Tigers forward last season – Lee Radford, Andy Last and Danny Ward.
Within that, Radford failed to win his first three games, Last won just four whilst Ward kept Castleford up with two wins from the last six fixtures.
For veteran Jordan Turner, who will now play for League One side Oldham in 2024, the writing was on the wall from the very beginning of pre-season despite aspirations to make the Super League play-offs.
“It was the toughest year of my career to date, the only way it could have got tougher would have been if we had been relegated. It was such a tough year,” Turner told League Express.
“From start to finish it was tough. Sometimes during a season you have a little bit of joy and you get over bad periods but we didn’t have any of that and it was tough to get through.
“I’m so glad the club stayed up, that was my main goal at the end of the year. My goal at the start of the year was to have my last year with Castleford and be in a play-off spot. I did think that was achievable but it wasn’t to be.
“It was quite obvious really. It wasn’t one thing in particular, it was a snowball effect over the course of the year. The pre-season was a shambles, we didn’t have some of the coaches for part of pre-season and we had a new spine with two new halfbacks and a few other new players.
“We never really went over our identity at the start of the year and then all of a sudden it came close to the start of the season, the coaches were back in and it was too late. I think we were behind the eight ball to start off with which wasn’t good.
“Our senior players, we were caught off guard. We thought that, even though everything was happening with the coaching staff, we had enough to bring us through and get us into those play-off spots but it wasn’t to be.
“By the club being unprepared, I think we were unprepared as players and we carried that into the season. From day one in pre-season we were on the back foot.
“A couple of us were vocal about it but we knew even by round three when Radders (Lee Radford) left we had stuffed up by not doing the right things in pre-season.
“And then it spiralled, the club was trying to play catch up all the time. We couldn’t claw it back and we ended up being below average for the season.”
In terms of what issues Turner himself raised, it was about the identity of the squad – or rather, lack of one.
“We raised the obvious points, the stuff that went on in pre-season for example. If you don’t get stuff right in pre-season, it’s hard to catch up during the season because the standards that should have been set from day one weren’t there.
“In my opinion, from the very top, there was an accumulation of decisions over a prolonged period of time that had a significant impact on everything else.
“Everything we did was pretty much made up, we tried changing things and some things worked whilst others didn’t but we had no identity.
“There was no direction, it was all a little too late. It was a pyramid effect but as players, regardless of what is going on around us, we have to take accountability for what happened as we have ‘some control’ when we cross the whitewash.
“I was vocal about things and a couple of others were too, but it probably didn’t have the desired impact.
So when did Turner know his time at Castleford was coming to an end being out of contract at the end of 2023?
“I was pretty aware, I wasn’t daft. Coming into this season I’m now 35, I’m not the same player I was when I was 25 and that’s quite apparent.
“I’m not a fool to think that if I was to stay on in Super League – which I could have done – I would have been a squad player which is well within its rights.
“I’m 35, it’s rare for an outside back to carry on. I knew it was coming to an end at some point and I knew time at Castleford was probably coming to an end because of what had happened during the season.
“They needed an overhaul, I had a conversation with Andy Last whilst he was still head coach and I said to him that I was under no illusions that the club needed to move on from me because of my age and that’s what Andy was trying to do but obviously he never got a chance to do that.
“Andy was a victim of things that had happened before he took the reins. He tried tirelessly but a lot of the damage had already been done. He was brave to take the job and I commend him for that.
“But you can see with what they’ve done this year that they have made the right strides by bringing in some younger, fresher guys. Whether those are the right guys remains to be seen but they have made some good signings. I hope they can improve.”
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