Castleford Tigers let their fans down in Saturday’s Super League loss to Huddersfield Giants, in the eyes of assistant coach Luke Robinson.
Returning to coach against his former club, Robinson presided over a 48-16 defeat despite the Giants being a man down for 45 minutes of the game as Castleford put in the latest in a season full of weak performances.
It was a showing that seemed to showcase the big issue that Castleford have had all season and that is that too many of their players give up when the going gets tough, and the Tigers boss agreed that some had waved the white flag.
“I don’t think they’ve all give up, I don’t, but do I think some of them have? Yeah, and that’s me being really honest,” he said in his post-match presser, shared on the Castleford Tigers’ YouTube channel.
“You can always take losing, you don’t like it, but there’s a manner that you go about it and I think the fans know that.”
Speaking more on the fans, he added: “I felt really really really sorry for Cas fans. They came out and in that first 20 minutes, they were signing and shouting, and they were brilliant.
“The season they’ve had, I’ve not been part of it but looking from outside in, but the fact that they still turned up and were cheering was commendable. I’ve spoken to the lads and I think that they did them a disservice.”
Castleford Tigers coach assures that changes will come
Robinson will be an assistant at the club under a coach that is still yet to be appointed and whilst that off-field uncertainty looms, one thing was certain and that is that improvements are needed.
“There’s a lot that needs changing and the club are quite aware but things need to change in pretty much nearly every department,” Robinson conceded.
“The vision that the club have got from Martin [Jepson, owner] and the board and the other directors is that this season isn’t good enough and [the players] need to strap themselves in, because for the lads who are here next year, that is not acceptable.”
He added: “I think there’s a lot of good people who work in the club. There’s a lot of people who work really hard but we can just be better in nearly every aspect and a lot of that is minute stuff, but it adds up.”
Asked if more recruits will join, Robinson neither confirmed nor denied that more players will sign but he appeared to suggest that the club may be done in that department, at least in terms of significant signings.
He explained: “I think the recruitment that we’ve made for next year, what is it? Six or seven? That’s pretty much half a team when your 13 is fit. That’s a lot of players who can make a huge difference.
“What we’ve got to do is make everybody that is already staying with us better and I think we can do that with the coaching set-up next year, the things that we’re putting in place regarding infrastructure, facilities, I think we’ll be a lot better for it.”
