With the transfer deadline just over one week away, Castleford Tigers are hoping to get some much-needed bodies over the line to boost the depth of their squad.
With injuries and mid-season departures forcing the club to be down to the “bare bones”, Director of Rugby Chris Chester is hoping to bring in some loanees for the remainder of 2026.
Clubs have until next Friday [August 21] to make any moves for the rest of the campaign, with Leeds Rhinos opting to do just that with the signing of Matt Lodge on a short-term contract.
Castleford have wanted to avoid bringing in loan players this year, with boss Ryan Carr always insisting that he would rather have permanent players in and around the camp, but with him not around as it stands and the squad very thin, Castleford are left with no option.
Chester told the press today [Thursday]: “I think it’s more a needs-must basis, really. We are down on bodies, we need bodies both on the field and off the field as well.”
The Tigers Director also stated that the club were looking at bringing in an interim coach to help with the day-to-day running of the squad in the absence of Carr.
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He continued: “We will be communicating over the weekend, and hopefully just get a couple of bodies in until the end of the year.
“There’s a deadline next Friday, I’d be hopeful that we can do a little bit of business before then.”
Explaining the situation further, he said: “We’re having to use Alex Mellor in the centre at the minute.
“We’re really, really light on outside backs. We’re light in the middle. We’re light in the outside backs. We are working on trying to bring in a couple of bodies because we’re really down to bare bones now in terms of the squad.
“Everybody’s going through, barring two or three, very similar situations. We’ve just got to bite down and get on with it.”
