CASTLEFORD TIGERS have built a young, hungry side for the 2024 Super League season.
After having the oldest squad in Super League in 2023, they now have one of the youngest with the club bringing in the likes of 22-year-old Josh Simm, 23-year-old Sylvester Namo and 25-year-old Luke Hooley and Elie El-Zakhem.
For former St Helens academy graduate Simm, it was the plan sold by previous head coach Andy Last what convinced him to make the move from Australian second tier side Wynnum Manly Seagulls – and the 22-year-old had no qualms about still moving to The Jungle even after Last left.
“It was just the plan for Castleford going forward. I spoke with Andy Last originally during the middle of last year and he was really excited about getting me onboard for a rebuild. He knew a lot of people were coming in and out of the club,” Simm told League Express.
“I’m really excited, I’ve not played in Super League for three years and I am back to prove myself.
“I was all in when Andy Last left. There was not a chance I wouldn’t have joined.
The sacrifice to move back to the UK, however, has been huge with Simm’s partner reluctant to do so at first.
“It is a lot to move my missus across the world and then to move her back again – she wasn’t very pleased!
“She loved the lifestyle over there and we both loved it. It was a hard decision family wise but once you get to know the story behind the rugby, I was really onboard with it. Then, once I explained to my missus that I wanted to prove myself, she supported me.”
Despite moving back to the UK, Simm does want to relocate back Down Under later in his life.
“Australia was great, we definitely want to go back and not necessarily to play but to live. The lifestyle over there, me and my missus really bought into it.
“We had a house in Brisbane on the water so it could have been worse! We went down to the beach every weekend and every time I had finished captain’s run we would go to the beach and go for a swim.
“It was genuinely the best lifestyle ever. It was tough for my partner to come over but she’s fully behind me and I hope one day we can go back out there.”
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