Castleford Tigers forward Sam Hall has signed a one-year contract extension with the club.
The 19-year-old prop came through the club’s Academy and made his first grade debut in a victory over Wigan Warriors on 7 February 2020.
He went on to make three appearances for the Tigers this season while helping the club’s Academy side win eleven out of 14 matches.
Hall is now looking forward to playing under new Castleford coach Lee Radford and playing more minutes against some of the leading players in the game.
“I just enjoy playing rugby and to get to do another year playing here and developing with a new coach coming in with new ideas, I’m just really looking forward to it,” he said.
“It’s always been a Cas/Leeds split in my house because my brother was in the system with Leeds and then for Cas. To play for the local team is really good and I’m just looking forward to playing more for them.
“I did an interview last year and said all I wanted to do was play another game. I played down here against Catalans and only played for just over ten minutes, but I remember having to put a few tackles in. It is good to play against experienced players and as a young player, I look up to the forwards.
“You learn stuff off playing against different teams because when you are on the pitch and playing against different players, you get used to how they play, and you can pick up things on the field.
“The forwards have been amazing to me with the likes of Nathan Massey, Liam Watts, Millo (Millington) and Sui (Matagi). I remember in pre-season seeing Sui’s footwork and it is immense. That is something that I have been trying to work on. I pick up different things from all of them and that’s good because as a young player, you can take bits from all of them.”
Radford is looking forward to working with one of the club’s most promising young forward stars.
“He has a great skillset for a big bloke,” said Radford.
“Physically, he’s got what a lot of other young kids don’t and that’s his size. Hopefully we can nurture that skill and develop him into a big ball playing middle.”
