Castleford v Leeds: 21-man squads and injury update

Castleford and Leeds have both announced their 21-man squads for Friday night’s round eight fixture at the Mend-A-Hose Jungle (KO 7:45pm).

The Tigers come into the game on the back of two straight defeats and will be keen to bounce back in front of their fans, who return to the ground for the second time this season.

Despite welcoming back Zane Tetevano and Richie Myler against Hull FC last week, the Rhinos were handed a fifth league defeat of the season.

Their last three games have been decided by six points or less, so we could be in for a close contest on Friday.

Castleford Tigers

The Tigers welcome back Liam Watts from suspension, while Cheyse Blair and Jacques O’Neill also return after several weeks on the sidelines. They replace Niall Evalds (calf), Adam Milner and Lewis Bienek. Peter Mata’utia and Oliver Holmes keep their places despite respective back and neck concerns, while Grant Millington (knee), Sosaia Feki (achilles), Alex Foster (bicep) and Gareth O’Brien remain unavailable.

21-man squad: 2 Derrell Olpherts, 3 Peter Mata’utia, 4 Michael Shenton, 6 Jake Trueman, 7 Danny Richardson, 8 Liam Watts, 9 Paul McShane, 11 Oliver Holmes, 12 Cheyse Blair, 14 Nathan Massey, 15 George Griffin, 18 Jacques O’Neill, 19 Tyla Hepi, 20 James Clare, 21 Jesse Sene-Lefao, 22 Daniel Smith, 23 Greg Eden, 24 Suaia Matagi, 25 Jordan Turner, 27 Lewis Peachey, 28 Brad Martin.

Leeds Rhinos

Leeds are unchanged from last week, with no fresh injuries. Bodene Thompson remains in contention after missing out against Hull, as do Sam Walters, Jarrod O’Connor and Jack Broadbent. Richard Agar is still without Alex Sutcliffe (knee), Cameron Smith (hamstring), Jack Walker (foot), Harry Newman (leg), Rob Lui (quad), Tom Holroyd (leg) and Callum McLelland (groin).

21-man squad: 2 Tom Briscoe, 4 Konrad Hurrell, 5 Ash Handley, 7 Luke Gale, 8 Mikolaj Oledzki, 9 Kruise Leeming, 10 Matt Prior, 11 Alex Mellor, 12 Rhyse Martin, 13 Zane Tetevano, 14 Brad Dwyer, 15 Liam Sutcliffe, 16 Richie Myler, 19 King Vuniyayawa, 20 Bodene Thompson, 22 Sam Walters, 24 Luke Briscoe, 25 James Donaldson, 26 Jarrod O’Connor, 27 Jack Broadbent, 31 Morgan Gannon.