Castleford Tigers boss Ryan Carr expects positive response as big test looms at Leigh Leopards
Boss Ryan Carr expects a response from his Castleford Tigers side at Leigh Leopards on Saturday, but admits he’s fed up of having to need one.
Tigers are smarting from last Sunday’s 48-6 thrashing by Wakefield Trinity at Magic Weekend, when Carr accused some of his players of giving up. He insisted the reaction at training this week has been “good”, but admitted: “Every time we’ve had a disappointing performance we have seen a spike in performance the week after.
“We can’t get to that though, that’s the sort of thing that’s frustrating at the moment, that a major event happens for there to be a response. We don’t want to be that type of team.”
Tigers have beaten top-six sides Wigan Warriors and St Helens this year, but lost to lowly York Knights and Toulouse Olympique. Carr stressed it is “for me to figure out” why they are so inconsistent.
He said: “I am working hard at that in the background, getting to the bottom of it and we’ll make sure we put it right eventually. You can see the type of team we can be on our day, but like I have said all along, every team can do it once every few weeks. t’s the best teams who do it all the time.
“For the teams in the top-four, the gap between their best and worst performance isn’t that big. Even if they don’t play great, they are not far away. Whereas for us, we either play really well or go the other way. We are trying really hard to bridge that gap in mentality and performance.”
Leigh are one of Betfred Super League’s form sides and could climb into the play-off spots if they pick up a big win against Tigers. Carr warned: “They are playing great, going really good.
“They are one of the teams I am talking about, the difference between their best and worst performances is a very small margin. They have got some good senior leaders there who lead from the front, they are well-drilled and have strike all over the park.
“It will be a tough away game, for sure, but we have to have a good look at ourselves and get our own attitude and game right before we can focus on other people. We are looking within a lot this week to make sure we are the best version of ourselves, that’s the key for me.”