Castleford Tigers coach Daryl Powell has admitted that he’s hopeful of having a fully-fit squad for the start of the 2016 season.
Several of Powell’s squad underwent operations either at the back end of last year or in the off-season, meaning a few players were still recovering from knocks as pre-season got underway.
But Powell believes that all of his squad should be fine – with Frankie Mariano the only real doubt after so long out of action with injury.
“I think everybody should be okay for the start of the season. I’m not sure on Frankie, it depends how quickly he gets back into full training,” he said.
“It’s a complex injury he’s had the operation on and we need to make sure he’s okay. But I’m confident he’ll be right for the season. “Frankie’s still got a bit of time to go. He’s working hard, but he’s had that knee reconstruction, which is always pretty tough.
“We’ve got a few guys overcoming injuries – we’ve got a bad hand gang! Ryan Boyle has been in pot and will be out of that soon, Nathan Massey’s had one of his pots off, but has still got the other one on for a couple of weeks and Andy Lynch’s got his pot off, but is also not in full training yet.
“They’re working hard, but obviously not working with the ball at the moment.”
