Castleford Tigers news: coach Ryan Carr reveals major setback with key man facing long spell on injury list

Veteran forward Joe Westerman didn’t play in last Sunday’s shock win at Wigan Warriors and isn’t included in Tigers’ 20-man squad to face visitors Hull FC tomorrow (Friday). Speaking at his weekly preview press conference today, coach Ryan Carr revealed: “He picked up a head knock in the Wakey game [at Easter].

“It was his second in a month and he was getting some symptoms. We had to get him to go see a specialist and he will be out for quite a while by the looks of it.”

Carr stressed: “We’ve just got to make sure we manage his health, safety and welfare first and foremost. We’ll make sure we do the right thing there. He’s going to have to go through a bit of a lengthy process, I think, to be able to return to play.”

Carr played down speculation Australian back Zac Cini, who was 18th man last week, could be set for an imminent move away from the club. Cini played in the reserves last week, with Jenson Windley taking over at full-back against Wigan.

The coach said: “He is part of our squad at the moment. As it stands right now he is in our squad for this weekend and that’s the way it’s going to be.”

For the second successive game Carr has named 20 players in his initial squad, rather than the usual 21. He explained: “We’ve got a couple of our boys out on loans, playing some Championship footy.

“I am trying to keep them ticking over and playing, instead of them sitting in the 21-man squad. It makes it hard if they’re not playing any games, so I’ve gone with a 20-man squad and it will come down to 18 tomorrow.”

Though the team boss is planning “minimal” changes to his 17, he revealed there will be late checks on some players carrying knocks from last week. He added: “We picked up a few. It’s a five-day turnaround and it was a physical game last weekend so we might be forced into a change or two, based on the knocks we picked up.”