Castleford Tigers assistant boss Luke Robinson revealed it was he who picked this week’s team to face Catalans Dragons, and provided an injury update on a key man.
It is Robinson’s ‘first full week’ in his role at the club, having arrived following the exit of Ryan Carr. He provides an extra pair of hands to help with the coaching of the side, and will do so for the next couple of years after signing a multi-year deal at the club.
His task this week was to assemble the squad ahead the arrival of Catalans Dragons tonight, in a game that marks 100 years of the Tigers.
“I have this [done the squad selection] week. I feel like it’s my first week really. Last week was just a bit of settling in, getting to know the group and finding out what’s going on.
“This is the first week, probably, that it’s been on me a little bit more now. I’ve leaned heavily on Scott Murrell. He’s the only coach left standing really from when the season started, so he knows the group more than anybody else.”
Castleford remain without key centre Krystian Mapapalangi this week, as he continues to recover from a shoulder injury.
“It won’t be this week,” Robinson told the press regarding the star man’s potential return. “There is a potential [he will play again this year] .
“He’s obviously got a bit of a shoulder injury that’s been going on, and it’s a little bit of just trying to build his strength up.
“He’s trying to build strength up enough so he can get through the game, and it’s one of those. I don’t think you can give a definitive answer on [whether] he’ll definitely play next week or the week after.
“It’s a little bit of suck and see at the moment, where we just see how he reacts to his rehab and see where it takes him.”
Named in the 21-man squad this week is Daniel Sarbah, who was close to getting a debut a couple of weeks ago, but that never came to fruition.
Robinson said that the winger is “very close” to a maiden Super League appearance.
“We’ve got a few late calls after training now,” he confirmed. “We’re just assessing a few blokes, see how we all went, but he’s very close-looking.
“For me, I’ve had very little interaction with him. This is where I’ve leaned on other people.
“Everyone spoke a little bit about his journey. His journey through rugby league. He didn’t get picked up early, but he worked extremely hard.
“The boys seem to have a lot of respect for him. The way that he goes about his training. Scott has obviously had a big influence on him. He’s been the reserve coach, and he’s got nothing but really good words to say about him.
“There’s definitely potential that he could play tomorrow.”
A social media post by Castleford Tigers has since confirmed that Sarbah will make his debut, becoming the 1100th player to represent the club in their 100-year history.
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Luke Robinson hits back at halves critics as “consistency” point made
As a former half-back himself, Robinson knows how brutal playing that position can be, especially when a team is underperforming.
When things go wrong, the blame generally gets put on the spine, when perhaps it should be on other positions in the squad not allowing the playmakers to do their thing.
In Castleford’s case, it has been Daejarn Asi and Tom Weaver who have copped the criticism – criticism that Robinson believes is unfair and should be dished out across the side.
He said: “Unfortunately, when you are in that spine position, there’s normally a little bit more critique on you. That’s just part and parcel of being a half-back or a hooker or a full-back, really. You are pivotal to the way they play and how they look.
“It doesn’t matter how good you are, though. You need other things in and around you. You need your forwards to get you on the front foot. You need your outside backs to win them the first couple of plays.
“It never falls solely on the halves. I think it’s always a team game. Inevitably, yourselves [media], the people that are critiquing them, will look at the spine first and foremost and give them a little bit of heat.
“The sides that are up near the top, they aren’t going to win the league or win the Grand Final just because they’ve got the best spine. They’re going to need their outside backs, they’re going to need their forwards to lay the platform.
“It’s a team game. They’ve had some good games this year. I’ve gone back and really reviewed them. Before I got the opportunity to come in, I went back and watched a fair few of the games.
“They’ve done some really good stuff. They’ve probably just lacked a little bit of consistency. That’s all.
“It’s definitely within them. They’ve definitely got some play within them. It’s just a little bit of consistency that we need to work on, but I could say that probably about us as a team, really.“
