Staying in the fight is the key to Castleford Tigers’ hopes of avenging their biggest defeat of the season when they play host to Warrington Wolves tomorrow (Saturday), coach Ryan Carr reckons.

Tigers were thumped 72-6 at Warrington back in March, but Carr believes his men can turn that around if they bring “the best version of themselves” this time. Castleford have beaten Betfred Super League leaders Leeds Rhinos and been demolished by 12-man Wakefield Trinity in their past two games and while Carr feels effort isn’t lacking, he admitted his side’s mentality must improve.

“The culture has been good and the players have been working hard,” Carr stated. “There hasn’t been a week yet where I’ve felt we haven’t had a go or we’ve not been all in. I feel we’ve got that part of our preparation right, but you can’t go 36 minutes and be playing some really good rugby league and have a really good physicality and mentality, then it just goes out the window.

Castleford Tigers coach Ryan Carr watches his side's win against Leeds Rhinos two weeks ago. Picture by Matthew Merrick/SWpix.com.

“Within games we have to stay in the fight. The mentality on the field during the 80 minutes is the key I’ve got to keep working on. We’ve been in every game at times, but it’s about making sure when things don’t go great, we get injuries or calls or whatever goes against us, we fight harder to turn it back. That’s something that takes a bit of time to fix.”

Carr insisted Tigers have learned lessons this year which will pay off in the future. “If we keep working hard, we will get what we deserve,” he stressed. “It [the final seven games] is an opportunity for whoever’s running out there to be the best version of themselves. That’s what we get paid to do and there’s some people who are learning hard lessons that they’ll be better for.”

Utility-player Ashton Golding has been ruled out for the rest of this season after suffering a hamstring injury last week. Winger Mikaele Ravalawa also drops out of the squad after a loan move to Doncaster. Full-back Fletcher Rooney could make his first appearance since February in Saturday’s game, which will be refereed by Liam Moore and streamed on Sky Sports+ and SuperLeague+. Winger Louis Senior, forward George Hirst and young stand-off Tylor Sharpe are also in contention.

Castleford Tigers: from Asi, Weaver, Atoni, Hood, Lawler, Lane, Mellor, Stimson, Ashworth, Rooney, Senior, Qareqare, Mapapalangi, Windley, Hall, Robb, Hirst, Laulu-Togaga’e, Dupree, Brown, Sharpe.

Castleford Tigers suffered a dismal afternoon the last time they played Warrington Wolves, back in March. Picture by Olly Hassell/SWpix.com.

Warrington Wolves: from Taylor-Wray, King, Hopoate, Ashton, Sneyd, Walker, Harrison, Holroyd, Currie, Powell, Sipley, Byrne, Crowther, Irwin, Hayes, Thomas, Philbin, J Smith, E Smith, Webster, McKler.

Referee: Liam Moore (Wigan). Kick-off: Saturday, 3pm.