JON WILKIN has hit out at Castleford Tigers’ recruitment failure and emphasised that things need to change at the West Yorkshire club.
The Tigers currently sit second bottom on the Super League ladder after winning just three of their opening ten games.
During the off-season, they made 13 new signings, but Wilkin doesn’t believe the vast majority of those new recruits have worked.
“It (13 new signings) doesn’t mean they’re good. It’s a number of players. I’m saying they’re not the right quality for them to be a good team in this competition,” Wilkin said on Sky Sports.
“Chris Chester came in to focus on recruitment, right? And they’ve signed a lot of players who aren’t delivering. It’s a lack of consistency.
“They can deliver when everything’s a fair wind, and everything’s going in their favour and the other team has a day off, but as soon as a team shows up against them, they throw in the towel.”
Wilkin says a lot more needs to change, but he doesn’t believe new head coach Ryan Carr is the problem.
“Whatever you do with that, you need to change that. I think the change that Ryan Carr speaks of is around personnel, is around recruitment.
“Danny McGuire lost his job because he couldn’t get a tune out of a team of players, and we’re in a situation now where we’ve changed the players, and they still can’t get a tune out of them.
“I suggest it needs a real long-term strategic think about who you recruit and why.
“I don’t think Ryan Carr’s the issue at Castleford. Now, he might be. We don’t work with him. We’re not inside those four walls of the dressing room.
“But I’ll tell you this, they need to strategically recruit in a better way, longer-term thinking, and really do their due diligence.
“(Krystian) Mapapalangi is the one that stands out, that’s really come good for them. They’ve been unlucky to some extent. Blake Taaffe, injured, which is difficult to deal with.
“I think they need more depth. It’s certainly a project, isn’t it?”