Castleford Tigers centre Jake Webster has insisted that finishing in the top eight is simply not good enough for the club this year – they have to be aiming for the top four.
The Tigers have been plagued with both injuries and inconsistency this year, but recently, they have shown signs that they are stringing together an impressive run of form.
Their most recent victory was arguably the standout performance of Magic Weekend, coming from 14-0 down to hammer then league leaders Warrington to continue their ascent up the Super League table.
But Webster insists that a place in the Super 8s is not the extent of what Cas should be aiming for: they must be targeting a semi-final spot in 2016.
“I said at the start of the year that top eight is not good enough, you’ve got to be pushing for that top four to have any chance at the big cup at the end of the year,” Webster said.
“It’s still in our hands. We’ve got Wigan this week and, if we can knock them off, it brings us two points closer and they’ll only be three in front of us.”
And worryingly for the rest of Super League, Webster insists there is plenty left to come from his side ahead of Thursday’s clash against Wigan.
“We’re not the finished product, there are definitely a lot of things we’ve got to work on,” he said.
“Playing for 80 minutes is one of them, we can’t play for 50 minutes against a side like Wigan who are very methodical in what they do.”
