Castleford Tigers coach Ryan Carr says he’ll have 19 or 20 players to pick from against Hull KR on Friday, but injury news on a key man is not as bad as first feared.

Winger Jason Qarqare remains on the sidelines with a hamstring problem, but Carr is hopeful the damage is not season-ending. The team boss told his weekly preview press conference today (Tuesday): “We’ve had it scanned and he’s looking at probably more than a month. It will be touch and go towards the last game or two, I reckon.

“We have got to be mindful because last year he played one game, did that same hamstring and had it fully reconstructed. We’ve got to make sure we do the right thing by Jason, but we will push for it.”

Castleford Tigers coach Ryan Carr is hopeful injured winger Jason Qareqare will play again this season. Picture by Simon Hall/SWpix.com.

Carr revealed the injury occurred late in the defeat at Wakefield Trinity two weeks ago. He added: “It wasn’t an event, not like a big bang - he finished the game, but felt some pain there. We treated it as precautionary, then scanned it and got a bit of a shock back. He finished the game so we weren’t really thinking it’d be a bad injury.”

Tigers will be without scrum-half Tom Weaver when they take on the world club champions after he suffered a concussion during last Saturday’s defeat by Warrington Wolves. Carr said either Fletcher Rooney or Jenson Windley will take over in the pivots.

“They have been training well and playing well in the reserves so it will probably come down to one of those two,” he revealed. “They are both great kids and whichever one gets the opportunity, I am looking forward to seeing them play.”

Prop Sam Hall could be back in contention after injury, but Carr confirmed: “We have got about 19/20 to pick from.”