'Consistency' plea as Castleford Tigers' main improvement area highlighted ahead of Salford Red Devils
Castleford Tigers will begin with a ‘clean slate’ when they visit Salford Red Devils at the end of a tough week.
Sunday’s game is Tigers’ first since coach Danny McGuire was sacked six days earlier. The axe fell in the wake of a 30-12 home loss to Huddersfield Giants and Tigers’ new board have placed director of rugby Chris Chester in temporary charge of the team, alongside assistants Brett Delaney, Scott Murrell and Danny Nickolay. Tigers have beaten Salford twice already this year and facing Betfred Super League’s bottom club is a good opportunity for the caretaker coaching team to make a winning start.
Chester insisted: “I think our effort levels need to be a lot higher than they were against Huddersfield. We lacked any real intent and desire in the first 15-20 minutes. Huddersfield did a good job on us, but we have got to find some consistency - with our team selection and some performances. We had a disappointing loss against Hull KR a week after we felt we had put in a really good performance against Wigan, but then we just fell off a cliff against Huddersfield.”
Liam Horne remains suspended, but Cain Robb is set to feature against Salford after being recalled from his loan spell with them. Fletcher Rooney and Jeremiah Simbiken are back in contention following injury and Chester said: “We are able to freshen up a little bit. We said when we addressed the players, it is pretty much a clean slate for everybody. If you can impress in training you have got an opportunity of playing on a weekend.”