Castleford Tigers coach notes ‘potential signings’ and hints at growing role for young stars

Castleford Tigers new head coach Danny McGuire has outlined ‘potential signings’ when assessing his squad whilst also hinting at growing roles for the club’s young stars.

The majority of the Castleford Tigers squad had returned to training earlier this week with notable omissions being their overseas signings and international stars with all of Judah Rimbu, Liam Horne and Sylvester Namo having recently represented Papua New Guinea.

That gave the recently-appointed head coach Danny McGuire the chance to assess the other players in his squad during these first few days of training, in which he claimed to push players to ‘extremes’.

That trial by free has seen some players flourish as McGuire would go on to name-check two young stars as those who ‘excite him’ when he was assessing the Castleford Tigers squad.

In a video published on the club’s X account, McGuire explained:  “I think we’ve got a good squad. We’ve got a young squad, a young, energetic squad that are all willing to improve, all willing to get better. We’ve got some boys coming from overseas that are going to help us do that as well.”

He’d then reveal that the club, who have overseas quota spots available, could be bringing in some new bodies as he talked about the recruitment efforts thus far.

McGuire teased: “We’ve got some exciting signings and some potential signings that could be happening in the next few weeks or months as well.”

Castleford Tigers squad assessed with PNG praise from McGuire

The club have already signed Judah Rimbu, Daejarn Asi and Zac Cini who are all exciting overseas prospects but McGuire was just as excited about the homegrown talent as he continued to assess his squad depth.

“I just love coaching,” he beamed, adding: “The boys who are here at the minute are putting their hands up and working hard. That excites me, that’s what gets me up in the morning and working with Fletcher Rooney, Jenson Windley and all the young boys that have come through the Academy.

“That’s what this club is about, that’s what this club has been built on and we’re going to try and continue that and develop some players from within as well.”

Both Rooney and Windley perhaps got more game time than had been anticipated last year and with only Daejarn Asi and Rowan Milnes as established halves, Windley could see more action in 2025.

Having talked up the young stars, McGuire was asked about the Papua New Guinean contingent that the club are developing and he gave his assessment of the player’s performances during the recent Pacific Championships.

“The Papua New Guinean boys are dynamite, aren’t they?” McGuire said with a smile, noting: “They play with their heart on their sleeve, with passion and they’re aggressive.

“We’ve had a really good chat with Judah (Rimbu) this morning. He’s excited, he can’t wait to get across. Obviously, he was playing Papua New Guinea so he’s on a little bit of a break at the minute but he’s massively excited to get across.

“I thought Sylvester had a fantastic series for Papua New Guinea as well so we’re excited, I know they can’t wait to get back and meet up with the players, but they’ve probably got a little bit of well-earned rest now before they get back in with the lads.”

With quota spots remaining and McGuire talking up ‘potential signings’ and ‘dynamite’ Papua New Guineans, could a fourth player from the small Pacific Island be heading to Castleford Tigers in the coming months?