Castleford Tigers boss Ryan Carr has confirmed that one of their overseas quota players has left the club, ending an 18-month stay in West Yorkshire.
Zac Cini joined the club ahead of the 2025 season, and has made 34 appearances in that time.
However, after being absent in the last two matches, including today’s Magic Weekend defeat to Wakefield Trinity, it raised eyebrows as to where his immediate future lies.
Combine that with a social media post from the centre earlier this week that read “thank you, England”, and it led to Carr confirming that Cini has departed Wheldon Road with immediate effect.
“Yeah, he has [left],” the head coach said after the game. “He had to go back to Australia for personal reasons.
“He’s been a great guy and a great player for us. He’s got our full support.”
Cini featured in 12 games under Carr in 2026, scoring one try.
Castleford Tigers “gave up” in Wakefield Trinity defeat says boss
As mentioned, the news of Cini’s exit came directly after the 48-6 defeat to Wakefield at Magic Weekend.
Carr had no qualms in hiding his true thoughts of the contest, and he went as far as accusing some individuals of giving up when the game got tough.
He said: “Anything that could go wrong did go wrong a bit. Errors, penalties, field position, just all against and a lot of that was our own doing.
“I was always going to learn a lot this year about this group, about these players within the team, and I’m definitely learning, put it that way.
“Certain individuals, when it got hard, gave up. I know who they are, I know they won’t continue. I’ll address it in my own way.
“You never really know who are the fighters until you’re put into it. Sometimes you’ve got to learn the hard way.”
Castleford Tigers can confirm that first teamer Zac Cini has left the club for personal reasons and returned to Australia
We’d like to extend our best wishes to Zac and his family and wish him well for the future #COYF pic.twitter.com/pHuiKeAAsp
— Castleford Tigers (@CTRLFC) July 5, 2026
