Castleford Tigers have announced the addition of Papua New Guinea international Jeremiah Simbiken. The 24-year-old joins Danny McGuire’s side for the 2025 season and becomes the club’s fourth overseas off-season recruit.
Simbiken makes the move having played for Brisbane Norths Devils last season, with the second string outfit winning the Queensland Cup last time around. The back-rower played 24 games last season for the club and scored an impressive 11 tries including two in the Queensland Cup play-offs and one in the NRL State Championship win over Newtown Jets at the Accor Stadium in Sydney.
Simbiken has never played at first grade level for a club, with his career so far being spent playing in the Queensland Cup. He has made 90 appearances in the competition and touched down on 42 occasions with his time being split between spells at Norths, Redcliffe Dolphins and Central Queensland Capras, with all three clubs being affiliated with the NRL Dolphins.
After failing to make it into the NRL, he will be looking to make a splash in Super League as the latest Papua New Guinea international to make the move. He joins compatriots Liam Horne, Sylvester Namo and Judah Rimbu at Wheldon Road.
“We have been tracking Jeremiah for a while,” director of rugby Danny Wilson told the Castleford Tigers website. “Danny McGuire wanted to bring in an exciting second-rower, he is a fan of his game, and so we like what he brings to our side – tries and tackles. His tackle percentage rate was mid 90% last season and that gets Brett Delaney excited too!
“He has great experience, it helps that he knows some of our lads already, so we look forward to getting him into camp, getting him up to speed with the new coaching approach we have in place and getting the best out of him in a Cas shirt.”
Simbiken has collected three caps for Papua New Guinea with his latest coming against New Zealand earlier this month.
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