SAM WOOD has admitted that the decision to leave Castleford Tigers was the right one after settling in seamlessly at York Knights.
Wood left the Tigers after two years, despite having a year left on his contract with the West Yorkshire club.
The centre joined Super League new boys York and has excelled during his time in North Yorkshire so far.
So how does Wood reflect on his time at Castleford?
“I wouldn’t say it was a big decision, I think it was the right decision at the time with what I needed and Castleford wanted to go in a different direction,” Wood said.
“I played through injuries and struggled for form last year. Obviously it worked out well for Castleford in terms of they were happy to let me go.
“It’s been brilliant here, I thank Cas for what they did for me, they gave me a chance to be a starting player.
“It was time for a fresh start for me and my family.
“The first half of the first year there was some of the best rugby I’ve played in terms of consistency because we were up against it at times.”
There was often turbulence during Wood’s time at The Jungle, with the Tigers opting to get rid of Craig Lingard at the end of 2024 to install Danny McGuire as head coach.
“I had full faith in Craig Lingard and I go a long way back with Danny McGuire.
“It’s not uncommon to have a couple of coaches, they were familiar faces to me. I can’t say I didn’t have a fair crack because I was playing really good rugby at the start of 2024.
“A few things then didn’t go my way in 2025 like not recovering from my injury as best as I could and I came back too early due to various reasons.
“I will always be thankful for my time at Cas.”