Scottish halfback Callum McLelland is looking ahead to making his Castleford debut after joining the club ahead of 2022 following a spell at Leeds Rhinos.
The halfback is a product of the Tigers’ academy but made the switch to rugby union before he could figure for Castleford’s first team signing for Edinburgh Rugby in November 2017.
Less than a year later, Leeds paid an undisclosed fee to bring McLelland back to rugby league with the halfback making his debut for the club in the Challenge Cup in 2019 against Workington Town. Unfortunately, he had the ignominy of featuring in Leeds’ infamous defeat to Bradford in the following round of the tournament but did score that day.
Later that year he spent time at Featherstone and helped the club to the Million Pound Game. Unfortunately, in the following seasons back at Leeds he failed to force his way into the starting XIII. Had he started 2021 fully fit he may have been able to exploit the injuries to Luke Gale and Rob Lui and make a claim for a starting spot but reoccurring injuries throughout the season stopped him from doing so and ultimately ended his season prematurely when he left the field at Belle Vue in Round 22 with a shoulder injury.
Ultimately, the lack of opportunities afforded to the halfback at Headingley culminated in a return to Castleford where he has now been awarded the number 16 jersey ahead of the new season.
Having been given that shirt number, McLelland emphasised why he was so excited to play for the Tigers in 2022 despite leaving the club earlier in his career.
Speaking on the Tigers’ Twitter account he said: “I’m really proud, I was here in 2017 and I never got to play a Super League game here so it’ll be my first Cas Super League game, a proper debut and a proud moment.”
1⃣6⃣ @MclellandCallum 🤝 Security Fencing Solutions
🧡 Callum is back at The Jungle where it all started!
📺 You can now watch his full interview on returning to Cas for FREE on Tigers TV!
🔗 https://t.co/J3A9xCygqq #NewCasEra | #COYF pic.twitter.com/GYGz6OqFcY
— Castleford Tigers (@CTRLFC) January 21, 2022
Happy to be back at the Jungle, he’ll have a job on his hands to force his way into the side ahead of Jake Trueman and Gareth O’Brien but having shown glimpses of quality at Leeds over the last three years, he could certainly cause Lee Radford some selection headaches in 2022.
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