Castleford Tigers coach Ryan Carr talks home double, key spell and club's bright future after 'ups and downs'
Back-to-back home games - against teams below them on the table - could set up Castleford Tigers for a strong end to the season, coach Ryan Carr reckons.
Tigers are 11th in Betfred Super League at the half-way point in the season and play 12th-placed Toulouse Olympique tomorrow (Saturday) in front of the Sky Sorts+ and SuperLeague+ cameras before the visit of York Knights, who are 13th, five days later. After a tough start to the campaign, Tigers have begun to find their feet and Carr believes now is a good time to hit form.
“The middle period of the competition is the big indicator of where you are going to put yourself come the back end of the season,” he said. “We’ve had ups and downs and a lot of change.
“Look at our team that’ll be running out against Toulouse this week compared to the one that ran out against them in round two, it is very, very different, which is an indication of growth and things that have happened between then and now. We are really happy with how we’ve been playing for the last month.
“We didn’t get the result last weekend [at Catalans Dragons], but I thought we played really well in a lot of areas. We just want to continue to play well - that’s the key.”
Carr, who joined Tigers in pre-season, feels the club is now heading in the right direction after several poor years. He insisted: “We are growing in a lot of areas.
“I am really happy with the progress we’ve made both on and off the field, the journey we are on and where we want to take the club to. It was never going to happen in round one, it is going to take time, but I am really pleased with the work that has been done so far.”
Forwards Tyler Dupree, Jack Brown and George Hirst have all come into the team since the start of the campaign, along with full-back Phoenix Laulu-Togaga’e. Hooker Damien Cook is a high-profile recruit for 2027 from St George-Illawarra Dragons and winger Jason Qareqare signed a long-term contract this week, following a similar deal done by his centre partner Krystian Mapapalangi
Carr stressed: “We’ve got to create a squad depth so we have competition for spots every week. That’s where the most healthy teams are at.
“We, as a club, probably haven’t had that for a few years now and when someone has been out it has been a bit hard to fill his spot. Now we have got good players competing against good players at training, which is a good headache to have.”
He added: “The Toulouse game at home on Saturday is my only focus right now, but you put your other cap on and it’s a business and a big game you are playing so you’ve got to make sure you put yourself in the best position to continue to get better, not just stagnate. That is something we are striving to do every week, but also year on year now.”
Castleford Tigers: from Cini, McIntosh, Asi, Weaver, Atoni, Lawler, Lane, Mellor, Stimson, Greacen, Senior, Qareqare, Mapapalangi, Windley, Hall, Rob, Golding, Hirst, Laulu-Togaga’e, Dupree, Brown.
Toulouse Olympique: from Ulberg, Rennie, Laguerre, Lacans, Shorrocks, Belmas, Hands, Roumanos, Stefani, Jussaume, Marion, Cator, Butler, Wallace, Gillam, Polselli, Pons, Rouge, Chan, Quai-Ward, Toleafoa.
Referee: Marcus Griffiths (Widnes). Kick-off: Saturday, 8pm.